A Musician's Guide to Social Media Success
In the pursuit of being a full-time musician, I’ve tried nearly every social media tactic to expand my audience and create a brand that people recognize before they even hear my music. I’ve learned some valuable principles along the way that have helped me find my voice on social media without feeling like I’m sacrificing my soul to the algorithm. Marketing yourself as a musician is something I could write an entire book on (and I’m currently doing just that), but the folks at Local Sound Collaborative told me to narrow it down to my top tips. Below are my five principles of social media success for musicians.
Consistency
If you take away one thing from this article, it’s this: Being consistent in the number of times you post, your brand look, and your engagement on social media is the number one way to gain new fans. People have to see a post anywhere between 7-12 times before engaging with it, which means you’ll feel like a broken record repeating itself, but that’s the only way your record is going to get played!
Some easy ways to make consistency a habit are designating certain days as posting days, uploading the same content to different platforms, and revisiting old content as a throwback. For example, making Mondays your Instagram day, Tuesdays your TikTok day, and Wednesdays your YouTube day, posting the same video to each platform, and sometimes reposting a memory from a live show or a funny reel you made is what consistency looks like in practice.
Specificity
We’re often told to be on every social media platform out there in order to reach as many people as possible. In my experience, this advice gives me choice paralysis and I end up feeling exhausted and overwhelmed from trying to keep up with every app. That’s why being specific with which apps you’re active on is important! It helps you cultivate and maintain a tight knit fan base while also maintaining your sanity. Focusing on two or three platforms, and integrating shared platforms like Facebook and Instagram so you can manage both with one click is ideal. Some popular platform combos are TikTok + Instagram, YouTube + Patreon, or Twitch + Facebook.
Authenticity
It’s cliché, but being yourself is important on social media. It’s already unnatural enough to be staring into the black mirror of a pocket sized computer at influencers advertising their luxurious and too-good-to-be-true lifestyles, the last thing the world needs is another person who’s selling something that exploits the world of authenticity. The world needs you to be human.
“How the hell am I supposed to do that, Sally?! I’m already awkward enough as it is, how am I supposed to ‘act natural’ on camera?!”
Be cool, I got you.
What I mean is listen to the still, small voice inside that tells you if something feels good or not. If you’re watching a TikTok trend that everyone’s doing, but when you think of trying it it feels dreadful instead of fun, don’t do it! If you’re looking through some cool film photos your friends took of your last live show and they get you excited and you feel like sharing them, post away! It’s as simple as that. Your body will tell you what’s up.
Authenticity doesn’t mean you have to be so serious and polished either! I’ve had strangers come up and tell me they saw me via the reels I make on Instagram, which shocks me everytime. When they ask me how I do it, I tell them the truth, “I got really bored one day and decided to entertain myself by making a couple funny videos.” Listen to that inner voice and let the rest just flow.
Community
This is the easiest way to be successful on social media (and the most fun, in my opinion). Building a fan base means creating a community through personal messages, responding to comments, and following some of your fans back. Over time, I’ve noticed most of my fan base started off as strangers, but now we’re acquaintances with each other, which is super cool! By investing a little time into cultivating a relationship with your fans, you are ensuring your music reaches the right people (and they’re more likely to tell their friends about your music too!)
Quality
People see your music before they hear it.
Read that sentence again.
By presenting a memorable and recognizable brand, you are leaving an imprint in people’s minds whether they hear your music or not. I’ll keep this brief since there’s a million and one resources online that can teach you how to do this. Hire a photographer and get high quality images with a color scheme and visual vibe that look like how your music sounds. Use those photos and color scheme to market everything from your latest single to your next six months of shows to one-off posts. This is just the first step in creating effective branding, but it is perhaps the most vital one.
There you have it! For more tips and advice on how to become a full-time musician, follow me and send me a message on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube @sallylouisesings and check out my music on your favorite streaming platform.
