Your Social Media Is Your Story

Social media music marketing: can’t live with it, can’t live without it. This is our reality today.

All audiences now expect that you keep up with your socials.

Unfortunately, many musicians are still doing a lackluster job.

The whole point of executing on any social media is to get your audience engaged.

Are they?

Statistically, engagement is hard to come by. The average engagement is 1% for Instagram .17% for Facebook and .05% for Twitter.

Pretty discouraging right?

It is therefore tricky and not the best use of your energy to spend all the time you do on socials and not see your posts making an impact.

The good news is, proper social media use and engagement (unlike god given musical talent) is learnable. The science behind what works and what doesn’t is studied almost to death.

I know what you are thinking “I just want to make music… not post on socials all day. But if I have to I’ll choose … Instagram!”

We totally understand. Instagram is hands down the favorite social these days. But have you managed to put a system into place that really captures your fans on Instagram?

Here’s how to amp up your efforts across all social media channels…

Sadly, many artists take shortcuts by buying questionable likes and fans (read: fake) or they will hire subpar social media managers to handle all the content, posting, and profile upkeep.

We have incredible Social Media Managers on our Cyber PR team who can make a profound difference in your social media.

But what if you don’t want to hire an outside source, or maybe your budget won’t let you- here’s what to do:

Social Media Step One – Your Brand

Let’s start with your social media LOOK & TONE
This includes your fonts, colors, logo (optional) and overall writing style.

What fonts are you using on your socials?

This includes any graphics you may be using in your profile pictures. This should also include Facebook and Twitter headers. This should be carried over to the tiles that you’ve created and are posting. Make sure these fonts are all consistent and match. Posting inspirational quotes or previewing lyrics are great content ideas. Make sure they coincide with your brand.

Having a bunch of different fonts on your page can be visually unappealing, and make your brand look disorganized. Matching these fonts with the font from your website is a great idea as well.

Here is an example of an artist who has consistent fonts throughout their socials:

Sleeping Lion

What’s your color story?

Adding color to your social media strategy and overall artist brand can be a great way to capture potential fans’ attention. Think about what colors are prominent throughout your website, do they symbolize who you are and how your music sounds. When choosing colors to represent you, be sure they feel right. (We suggest having no more than three.) Then, relay those colors to shine throughout your social media channels to create a cohesive and put together look. The more appealing your images are visually, the more likely people are to hit that “follow” button.

Here are some artists who have utilized and expressed their color story really well:

Zack King

Zack King uses tones from new music coming out. Each post fits the theme and color scheme of the upcoming release.

Aaron Camper

Aaron uses dark, earthy tones and creates a narrative through his posts. Each carousel of images tells a story.

Jetty Rae

Jetty Rae uses colorful tones and vibrant, filtered photos to give her feed a festive, yet very professional, undertone.

Is your overall style coming through?

Your socials are ways for fans to connect with you outside of just listening to your music. When fans or industry people see you in photos, that is what they will expect to see in person and on stage. Make sure you are being your truest and most authentic self. Are you expressing yourself to the fullest? Are you stepping outside your comfort zone? Remember to give your fans all opportunities to relate to you and your personality.

Social Media Step Two – Your Themes

Next, what are your five social themes? Aka, CONTENT.

Most of our clients come to us and say, “But what do I post about?” This is a common concern with a simple remedy. Get your ideas down on paper.

We suggest having no more than five social themes. They should be based on your hobbies, talents, likes/ passions, hometown, and everyday life.

Your first theme should be music, of course. But what about the other four?

Think about what makes you, YOU. Is your location a huge part of who you are? Maybe you workout at the gym every day or you have three dogs that you are obsessed with (understandably). Your social media themes can be hard to narrow down. But once you do, an entire world of content ideas will be open for you, and the stress of posting will soon be alleviated.

Here is an example of social media themes we created for a client who engaged us to write a Total Tuneup Plan:

THEME #1 MUSIC

This is the most important kind of content you should be posting; and you should be posting this frequently.

THEME #2 ROAD TRIPS/OLD CARS

You had mentioned your familiarity with and love for old cars. Share that! Let your fans know what it’s like to hang out with you for a day when you’d be doing something you loved other than music, like fixing up an old car.

THEME #3 SUPPORTING THE LIVE MUSIC SCENE

Being that your fans are of the age where they go out for live entertainment, reflect that. Connect with them over your love for live performances and don’t just invite them out to your shows – invite them to meet you at someone else’s show!

THEME #4 EXPLORING NEW CULTURES / NYC

Living in a city like NY is enviable for most people. You are also fortunate enough to be able to sample different cultures right in your own backyard. Being that you love new foods and drinks, and exploration of new cultures is definitely relevant within your target market, share photos of the foods and drinks you try while on the road, or simply out for the day in NYC!

THEME #5 FREEDOM SEEKERS

Aside from sharing your music, nothing is more “you” than sharing your experience as a young musician with the freedom to pursue your dreams and make your own rules. While you want to keep your platform about the music, you each have your own experiences and beliefs that make you who you are as people and as a band united.

Social Media Step Three – Your Strategy

So, when exactly are you posting? You have to have a STRATEGY.

Most of the time, it doesn’t even occur to artists that they can’t just post a picture whenever they’d want and expect to get the maximum amount of likes. There is legitimate research conducted constantly about the best and worst times to post on each particular social channel. The information that comes from this research is extremely interesting and effective. Being on top of the trends each year can really boost your social media game and bring it to the next level.

Here are some of the things that we found from recent social media research:

Facebook users are usually on during work hours. Having a video that captures the viewer in the first 20 seconds is key, or else you’ll lose their interest.
Twitter is the fastest moving social channel, in fact the average lifespan of a tweet is about 15 minutes, so go ahead and post more often on that platform.
Instagram users have been described as nocturnal, so schedule your IG posts later in the day.

Want more key advice on social media trends? Check out this Social Media Tuneup e-book for all the tools you need to improve your social media presence.