Social media is imperative to new acts growing their fanbase, but there are lots of pitfalls to be avoided and money to be saved.
More than ever acts are in control of their own marketing via social media, but how can emerging artists make the most of these platforms?
We attended a panel at The Great Escape to learn exactly what acts need to do to capitalise on social media opportunities. Check out the top tips we learned from a panel including Mama Festival’s Camella Agabalyan, Insanity Group’s Andy Vardy and Playliveartist’s Marcel Hunziker…
Know your platforms…
Camilla Agabalyan: ‘Each channel has a purpose. Facebook is a platform for conversion, so anything that we put up there is specifically to sell tickets or as a call to action; Twitter has always been really conversational and news based; Instagram is obviously a very visual platform. That’s where you’re going to get really good engagement and the same with stories. It’s important to think about how you build content across those platforms rather than doing just one thing across everything.’
Give more than you take…
Marcel Hunziker (MH): ‘What are you actually doing in between the singles and stuff? How strong are you there? It all comes from this basic idea of not just constantly trying to sell to people. You should be entertaining your audience so that the relationship you have with your fanbase is actually 90 percent giving and ten percent taking.’
You don’t need to splash the cash on posts…
Andy Vardy (AV): ‘I’m always super wary of boosting posts on Facebook. In our experience of boosting a post on those platforms, especially on Facebook, quite often Facebook understands you’re spending money and encourages you to spend more. That’s okay if you’re a record company that has a bottomless pit of cash, but if you’re a new artist starting out spending money on Facebook you get to the stage where your posts are only successful when you’re spending money.’
Invest in great content instead…
AV: ‘The post important thing is to invest your money in really decent content in the first place. Ultimately, if your content is really strong, on platforms like Instagram, if you’re creating that content that appears on the discovery page you start to attract new fans very organically.’
Save money shooting content…
AV: ‘Make sure if you’re shooting a piece of content that you shoot it in such a way that your content is in the centre of the camera, because you can then cut it down to vertical and horizontal-type content. Really, that means your budget goes that bit further. Rather than shooting content specifically for Instagram stories, you’re shooting content that can be used on a number of different platforms.’
Tracking is important…
MH: ‘Something that’s not be talked about enough is the importance of tracking. One of the most difficult things to do in digital marketing is to set up trackable systems. It can be done and that, in connection to data, can be so important. So, where do people come from? Where do they go? What actions do they Take? How can I influence this?’
More than ever acts are in control of their own marketing via social media, but how can emerging artists make the most of these platforms?
We attended a panel at The Great Escape to learn exactly what acts need to do to capitalise on social media opportunities. Check out the top tips we learned from a panel including Mama Festival’s Camella Agabalyan, Insanity Group’s Andy Vardy and Playliveartist’s Marcel Hunziker…
Know your platforms…
Camilla Agabalyan: ‘Each channel has a purpose. Facebook is a platform for conversion, so anything that we put up there is specifically to sell tickets or as a call to action; Twitter has always been really conversational and news based; Instagram is obviously a very visual platform. That’s where you’re going to get really good engagement and the same with stories. It’s important to think about how you build content across those platforms rather than doing just one thing across everything.’
Give more than you take…
Marcel Hunziker (MH): ‘What are you actually doing in between the singles and stuff? How strong are you there? It all comes from this basic idea of not just constantly trying to sell to people. You should be entertaining your audience so that the relationship you have with your fanbase is actually 90 percent giving and ten percent taking.’
You don’t need to splash the cash on posts…
Andy Vardy (AV): ‘I’m always super wary of boosting posts on Facebook. In our experience of boosting a post on those platforms, especially on Facebook, quite often Facebook understands you’re spending money and encourages you to spend more. That’s okay if you’re a record company that has a bottomless pit of cash, but if you’re a new artist starting out spending money on Facebook you get to the stage where your posts are only successful when you’re spending money.’
Invest in great content instead…
AV: ‘The post important thing is to invest your money in really decent content in the first place. Ultimately, if your content is really strong, on platforms like Instagram, if you’re creating that content that appears on the discovery page you start to attract new fans very organically.’
Save money shooting content…
AV: ‘Make sure if you’re shooting a piece of content that you shoot it in such a way that your content is in the centre of the camera, because you can then cut it down to vertical and horizontal-type content. Really, that means your budget goes that bit further. Rather than shooting content specifically for Instagram stories, you’re shooting content that can be used on a number of different platforms.’
Tracking is important…
MH: ‘Something that’s not be talked about enough is the importance of tracking. One of the most difficult things to do in digital marketing is to set up trackable systems. It can be done and that, in connection to data, can be so important. So, where do people come from? Where do they go? What actions do they Take? How can I influence this?’
