**Guest post written by Ged Richardson of Zing Instruments as featured in the Ultimate Guide To Social Media Marketing For Musicians.

 

 

 

"You’re an aspiring musician and you don’t have much time to dedicate to social media. You’re busy. I get it.

 

The good news is there are certain social media smarts that work regardless of which channel you're on.

 

These tips are channel agnostic - i.e. they're perennial tips that can be used on whichever your platform of choice happens to be.

 

 

1. Quality is better than quantity

Generally speaking, quality beats quantity when it comes to social media. If all you do is hammer your feeds with posts (especially if all you’re using is a scheduler and repurposing old posts) your fans will quickly get fed up of you and either mute, unsubscribe or plain ignore you. Fewer, more purposeful / insightful posts work better everytime (we’ll take in a bit what kind of posts work well).

+What We're Learning About The Music Industry

 

 

2. Be authentic

You’ve gotta be you on social media. The old days of having a wall between fans and musos is long gone. Whether you like it or not, being a musician these days entails having more interaction with your supporters.

 

 

3. Be interesting

Be anything but BORING on social media. I’m not saying you need to start sharing squirrels on waterskis - just don’t share boring stuff. Remember you don’t need to be sharing original thoughts or ideas every time, your job is to curate content and share stuff that’s interesting to you and your audience. There are plenty of content curation tools out there to help you do that.

 

 

4. Be spontaneous

With all this artistic license you have on social media, don’t be scared to whack on a video sharing app and live stream what you’re doing. Maybe you’re in the studio working on your next album, or chilling backstage after a gig. Share that stuff.

+If You Aren't Using Facebook Video You Will Miss Out

 

 

5. Work smarter

Take advantage of some of the free social media scheduling tools to plan out your posts. I don’t mean to start spamming your page with updates on a loop. But a bit of scheduling can help to fill in the cracks when you’re too busy.

+Why You Should Be Doing House Shows

 

 

6. Ask your audience stuff

It’s not all about you, remember. The most effective engagement methods often involve asking the opinion of your following. Questions such as:

 

“Which artwork image do you like better for our next single?”

 

Or even plain dumb ass questions like:

 

“What to have for dinner today – healthy home cooking or greasy Chinese!?”

 

 

7. Announce stuff

Let your followers be the first to find out news: a new album, a gig, a piece you just got published in a music blog, general interviews or question and answer sessions etc. You could even run a competition to win some band swag - and make sure they’re the first to know about it.

+New Ideas to Boost Merch Sales, Tips, & Social Media Shares!

 

 

8. Celebrate other events

In a typical year there’s ton of nationwide or worldwide events that you can celebrate or talk about in some fashion. Take for example the ever popular Record Store Day in the UK, where local record stores stock special editions and promo material.

 

 

9. Show gratitude

Every now and again thank your followers for being great. And try and be as responsive as possible - and don’t let a question go unanswered, especially if it’s directed at you.

+Organization and Relationship Equity

 

 

10. When you’re ready, scale up

When you see social media starting to do well, it may be the time to scale up. When you can afford it, getting an extra pair of hands is a game changer. It could be a virtual assistant you find on UpWork, or just someone you know who’s after a bit of work."

 

 

Related Blog Posts:

+How To Get Started With Social Media Marketing

+9 Reasons Why You Have No Followers

+Instagram Tips for Musicians: How to Properly Use Geo-Tagging