“I’m not a sales person”

This is a common misconception. You are not selling your art, you’re simply sharing and promoting it. The difference between selling and sharing is often in the mindset of the artist.

The best way to change your mindset about marketing is by reminding yourself that it’s not about you as an artist or what you have to say; it’s all about the audience receiving something from you that will aid them in their journey toward making art or becoming more creative themselves.

There are many examples of artists who hated marketing their work at first but eventually saw its value, including Pablo Picasso, who said: “I do not seek, I find.”

“It’s just so awkward”

Artists don’t like to talk about themselves. It feels awkward for them to do so, and they don’t want to be seen as greedy or unappreciative of their work. The irony is that by not marketing their art, artists are actually being unappreciative of it.

The solution? Make marketing your art part of your creative process. Promote your latest piece in a blog post on an artist website, or tweet out pictures from the studio when you’re working on something new! If you can’t bear the thought of talking about yourself, ask someone else close to you (like a friend or partner) if they’d be willing to help out with social media posts and other forms of promotion so that marketing doesn’t feel like such a chore for you.

“I just want to make art and not think about it after that!”

When you’re trying to create art, you’re in a very vulnerable state. You need space and time to focus on your creative process without distraction. You want to put everything into the work itself and not be pulled away by things like marketing or sales.

Artists often feel overwhelmed by “the business” aspect of their work—it can be difficult for them to figure out how best to promote themselves and their art, especially if they haven’t been trained on these skills yet (which many haven’t). This is one reason why many artists choose self-publishing: they enjoy the freedom it provides them with when it comes down to promoting their books independently rather than handing this responsibility over exclusively to a publisher or agent who may or may not have any knowledge about how best promote an author’s book online today.

For some creators, this feeling of being overwhelmed by “the business” goes beyond just creating content—and extends into other areas like making sure there are systems in place so that someone else could take over if something happened unexpectedly during production or distribution processes that could leave everyone involved at risk financially if something went wrong!

“I don’t want to be pushy or aggressive.”

This is a common fear of artists. They don’t want to be pushy or aggressive, because they don’t want to seem like they’re just trying to make a sale. But being authentic is important in marketing your art and yourself as an artist, so it’s important that you find the right balance between being pushy and aggressive, and being personable. You need to be able to sell your art without sounding like you’re just selling “the product.” Instead, focus on who you are as an artist and how your work reflects that identity.

An artist’s identity is important and being an artist is usually not compatible with being an aggressive salesperson.

When you’re an artist, your identity is important. You need to be able to separate yourself from your art so that you can make the most of it. Artists are not salespeople; they have something more important to offer than just a few minutes of entertainment for someone who isn’t interested in it. Your art should speak for itself and have a message that resonates with whoever sees it—it shouldn’t feel like a generic advertisement trying to get someone’s attention (if only because the person who made it would probably be offended by that).

Being an artist does not mean being an aggressive salesperson who forces their work on people indiscriminately, but many artists think they do because they see themselves as having something valuable or meaningful enough that other people should want to buy into it or learn more about it. This perception makes them want to share their work with everyone they meet—and while this may seem like a good idea at first glance, if you’re always pushing yourself on others without taking time away from creating new works or engaging with those who already appreciate what you create, then there’s no room left over for growth or community building!

Want to learn more? Check out this amazing guide by Porch titled “How to Build Your Online Presence as an Artist”.

The post 5 Reasons Why Artists Hate Marketing Their Art appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.

So how can artists and creative businesses use the newest tools and trends to make their social media really POP in 2019? Let’s find out!

1 – Narrow your focus.

With so many different platforms available and so much strategy necessary for each one, unless you have a small team it can be a full-time job just trying to keep your social media updated. Your best bet is to figure out what the best platform(s) is for you and your brand.

Choose a select few channels and focus on them – don’t try to spread yourself too thin over too many channels. Focus on developing those few specific channels over the next year and tracking the analytics to see what is working and which platform is really giving you great engagement from your audience.

If you’re not sure where to start, get some tips from our recent article The Secret To Social Media Success For Creatives: Original Content!

2 – Rise of the “chatbots”. 🤖

Bots and automatic messaging are becoming more and more useful. The best part of a chatbot is that it can give the same information over and over to individual customers without you having to repeat the same conversation over and over again. With everything being automated it saves time, whilst still engaging and building a relationship with your customer.

Here’s a great example of a chatbot from online clothing brand, Kindred Bravely:

It can also be much quicker than your customer trying to find the FAQs page on your website, and of course negates the need for having to keep up with replying to all the messages being sent to your FB page (or website), without losing your high response rate. See more about what chatbots can do here.

3 – Organisation.

If you haven’t already, create a content calendar – or refresh the one you already have.

Pay attention to key dates in the new year (for example, if you’re an actor, September 8th is National Actors Day), and plan your social media accordingly. You can also use plugins and apps to automate things like publishing your blog posts on your website, managing multiple social media feeds, and creating simple but effective content.

4 – Consistency.

Make sure that the social media channels you are using are all consistent, paying attention to: consistent handles (names you’re using), brand colours being the same throughout (if you don’t have brand colours, create some!), ensuring all platforms link to each other (with all of them indicated on your website too), and of course, making sure your ‘story’, or what makes you unique, is exactly the same throughout. Lack of consistency will make you look amateur and can lead to losing interest from your audience.

5 – Commit to engaging with others.

It’s advised time and time again that engaging with others does wonders for building an audience, but still sometimes with all the other tasks and things we have to do, engaging with others can be pushed to the side. Whether it be commenting on other accounts on Instagram (particularly those in your niche), answering Facebook comments, or making sure every comment on your blog posts gets a swift reply, engaging with others should be seen as something that is absolutely crucial to success.

If you are already engaging with your audience and instead want to focus on networking and making connections, writing articles or having ‘your say’ on specifics of your industry can help (LinkedIn can really help here).

Even as a creative type, offering your opinion or knowledge of your niche can really portray a sense of authenticity and being a ‘master’ in your field, which can only improve your professional image. Try sprucing up your LinkedIn profile and start posting articles there about the industry you work in, and/or your take on current events in your niche.

6 – Videos!

If you haven’t already, start investing in video content. It has been said that video will account for 85% of social media content output in 2019… so do not underestimate using this type of content! People are getting busier and busier, with less time to invest… so give them content that’s quick to ingest! Not only that but live-streaming, VR & AR are set to explode too so keep an eye out for how you might be able to use these types of content too.

If you’re not familiar with creating videos, try a simple online tool like Animoto (click here to visit and get a free one-month trial). It’s a super simple way to make videos that look really professional!

7 – Instagram ‘stories’: time to invest!

Time to really focus on your Instagram stories! This tool blew up in 2018 and 2019 is looking to be only more prolific! If you’re not already making the most of the stories feature then try to focus more on it to build your audience on Instagram.

Stories is a great way to truly express your personal or brand personality, and is perfect for mixing video, gifs, emojis and more to create media that your audience will really love to follow – Stories makes your audience feel like they’re really there with you!

So, which one of these do you think will be the most important for you this year? Or are you already having success with some of these tips?

Whatever your thoughts, leave a comment below!

And also… HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Please note, this blog post contains affiliate links. 

The post How to Up Your Game on Social Media in 2019 appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.

In this article we are going to explain exactly what original content is, what it means for you, and how you can start to create content that works for both you and your audience. Let’s go!

So, what exactly is “original content”?

Social media marketing expert Kimberley-Ann Jiminez describes original content as:

“Any piece of content created by your brand used to instruct, educate, entertain or empower”.

That means basically anything that you create from scratch, whether it be a blog post, an infographic, a photo, or a video; all of these are original content.

Why do I need to create “original content” when I’m an actor/ singer/ artist/ other?”

When it comes to your online presence, there are so many reasons why it’s important to always be creating and sharing fresh, new content with your audience (and a variety of types, if you can!). Let’s outline the main reasons:

1 – Helps you stand out in a crowded online space 

Even though there may be thousands of people all working in the same niche; it’s your individual story and experience that can really create and provide value to your audience. A good way to stand out is to truly show your personality and what you have to bring to the table.

Even in an industry where there are “industry standards” for work or for content creation, adding your personal flavour to the conversation can really make you stand out.

2 – Become a subject matter expert

When you give your audience more information about your topic you are establishing yourself as someone who really knows what they’re talking about. Your confidence in your knowledge shines through, which in turn makes people trust you. When people trust your opinion and advice (and it works for them) they will come back time and time again to seek out more information. For a lot of people starting out in your industry or niche, they want and need all the help they can get. That’s where you can provide real value to them, in turn building an engaged audience!

3 – Build your community

Original content that your audience enjoys and can utilise helps forge relationships – they trust you and they want to know more about what you have to offer. Similarly, even if your content is something that entertains or inspires your audience, it’s still eliciting a response from your audience, and that’s what helps build your audience. Similar to how your art can make the audience feel or think in a different way, your posts should do the same.

The more your audience love your content the more comments, likes, shares and mentions you’ll get. Not only that but people will trust you and feel like they know you, which in turn will make them comfortable approaching you and initiating conversation via social media. Interacting with your audience will make potential fans think you really care about the people you’re interacting with, which in turn will make them want to join the club. The more engaged your audience is, the more you’ll attract more!

4 – Add value to your audience

When creating original content, whether you entertain, inform or educate, you’re offering your audience something of value. It could be knowledge that helps them in their industry, information that helps them progress in their niche, or just something to entertain them when they have some free time. Whatever role your content has for your audience, it’s important to maximise it so they keep coming back.

5 – Builds rapport with your audience which potentially leads to sales

Although we’ve already covered building a community (see #3), it’s important to note that building an engaged community can also lead to potential sales. If you’re a creator who is selling your products or work online, a thriving community will be more likely to buy.

It can be particularly hard for independent artists to make sales online, but if you have a community that like and trust you, they will want to support you, and in turn feel much better about parting with their money for you.

So how do I choose what type of content to create?!

The easiest thing to do is to look at what others in your niche are creating and pay attention to the pieces that have had a lot of likes, comments and shares.  If it works for your competitors, it’s probably going to work for you. 

However, this isn’t a fail-safe method. Others in your niche may have more fans, or may be more established, and therefore it’s hard to tell whether their audience are really enjoying the content, or whether they’re more inclined to like it because they already support the person.

Ask yourself the following four questions to help figure out the best way to create original content that works for your target audience:

1 – How does your target audience normally (and prefer) to consume content?

How does your audience consume content? Do they prefer video content? Are they avid readers? Do they need direct and informative infographics? Pay attention to what has worked for you before – and what works for others in your niche. This will give you hints as to what type of content your audience actually enjoys. And therefore you can modify your social media offering to incorporate that!

For example, if you are a comedian that makes jokes about the lives of Millennials, you may find more luck sharing short videos, sketches and jokes on a platform such as Snapchat. After all, it has been proven that some 78% of 18- to 24-year-olds use Snapchat, and a sizeable majority of these users (71%) visit the platform multiple times per day (Pew Research Center, 2018). Therefore, clearly your target audience prefers to consume content on Snapchat, so start to invest time and effort on that platform!

2 – How often and when do you want to post?

There is no specific formula to how much you should be posting, or when, although studies have shown that there seems to be some trends. Check out the graphic below to help you figure out the best time to post: 

3 – What feels natural to you?

Above all, an important thing to keep in mind is what feels natural to you. What type of offering actually suits your personality? If you’re quite a shy person videos are probably not going to present the best version of yourself. If you prefer to write your ideas down than to share them vocally, writing could be the best option for you.

The great thing is that there is something to suit every personality type, and whatever your strengths are, you can find a media format that really can connect with your audience whilst also encouraging you to offer the absolute best of your personality, and in turn, help to cultivate your relationship with your audience.

4 – What are your audience actually going to be interested in?

There’s no use sharing original content if nobody who sees it is going to be interested in it; it’s a waste of time and effort.

Try to think about what your audience would really love to see; for example, if you’re an artist, perhaps you love seeing behind-the-scenes of how particular artists work, the paint brands they use, how long it takes to make their pieces…. and so on. Why not create the same thing for your audience?

Ask yourself: what kind of value can you create for your audience that will keep them coming back again and again?

Examples of original content

• Blog post 
• Video
• Podcast
• Infographic
• Newsletter
• Social Media Post
• Webinar
• Gifs
• Films
• Memes
• Live video or chats 
• Ebooks
• Online events 

Some examples of original content for creatives

ACTORS: A video explaining how you grew a passion for acting, a blog post with your top tips for successful auditions, a photo diary of tips for taking headshots. Here are some more content ideas for actors, including a 30 day calendar!

SINGERS: A fun video where you do impressions of famous singers, a Spotify playlist of famous artists in your genre that your fans may like, an Instagram story of a day in the studio recording

MUSICIANS: A video of a band practice, a curated Spotify playlist of your musical inspirations, a blog post about your songwriting process

ARTISTS: A blog post about what inspires your work, a video behind-the-scenes in your workspace, a product review of paintbrushes you use or have used

WRITERS: A blog post on how your career as a writer started, a video interview of yourself so your readers can get to know you better, host a writing competition on one of your social media platforms, a webinar about how to find ideas for writing fiction

PHOTOGRAPHERS: A behind-the-scenes video of a photoshoot, a blog post about how you edit your photos, a webinar on photography basics for beginners

Now you’ve asked yourself some key questions, take some time to analyse what sort of value you want to offer your followers and what you think they may like to hear about. Research other people in your niche and see what’s working for them. Also take some time to self-reflect; ask yourself what’s going to work best for your personality and what you feel comfortable with. Once you know the answers to these questions you’ll better know how to provide quality content that your audience will love!

The post The Secret To Social Media Success For Creatives: Original Content! appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.

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Hi everyone! Lara here.

Big news for The Social Media Artist. I’m happy to announce our transition from solo-preneur to team-based social media agency! 

From solo-brand to creative social media agency!

Now, some of you might be confused. “I thought The Social Media Artist was your pseudonym”, “Isn’t this a personal brand”, “I never knew you did social media management – I thought you were only an instructor”. Yup. My brand has been in transition for a while. In any company, your branding grows and changes over the years. Though I’m sure my branding will change again in time, this is the first time I feel REALLY good about it.

After doing some research and evaluation of my time, energy and skills – I figured out what was missing. I needed a team to help me with the goals and plans I have for my company. I’m happy to say that I now have my #smartist dream team: Meredith and Carla!

Meredith and I met performing in a musical a few years ago and we hit it off right away. She is a scenic artist, illustrator and performer who creates sets, props, and costumes for theatre companies across Toronto, and she recently illustrated her first children’s book, “The Adventures of Ludwig and Imogen” which will be released this winter! Our values and the way Meredith and I see art are very much aligned, which is how I knew she would be the perfect fit for the team. Meredith’s speciality is in creating dazzling graphics for social media. Check out her website and Instagram. She is the Queen of Instagram Stories!

 

I met Carla through GenM, an apprenticeship matching service. I was looking for a blog writer and someone to help me with my own brand. Since this year has been so busy, I was guilty of putting my own brand on the back burner and really needed some help. Carla is an English girl living in France, where she teaches English and spends her time painting, learning languages and writing for her travel blog, Cosmic Traveller.  I had such a good feeling about her during the interview that I offered her the position on the spot!

Why this change?

When you’re an entrepreneur who has flexibility during your day, you get in tune with your personal flow. There are times when you feel more productive and creative, and there are moments when you’re not. After a while you tend to notice patterns; do you get the majority of your work done in the evenings? Are you better meeting with clients in the morning/afternoon? What energizes you and makes you feel excited about your work? For me, working with a team really helps. Most of my students would argue and say that they hate group work, but the trick is to have a team that compliments each other. When you have the right team, it feels like you are all puzzle pieces fitting together perfectly! And these two ladies are the missing puzzle pieces I was looking for: both creative, strategic, and genuinely want to help other artists and creatives succeed. They are so aligned with my brand and messaging it makes perfect sense that we are all working together!

How we work

When we work with clients, instead of having one person manage one client, we are all involved. From creating a social media calendar and designing content to analyzing results, we all are on the same page. Taking this approach, I have a lot of ‘aha’ moments and it makes me genuinely love what I do every day.

Working remotely is the way of the future. I’m a huge believer of alternatives to the 9 to 5. Our team has weekly meetings and training sessions where we go over our tasks and discuss what we need to prioritize and where we may need support. Since social media is always changing, we also have weekly training that we can take back to our clients and apply to our own brand. I always look forward to our weekly meetings because I know they will be productive and we will be learning something from each other!

You will be seeing some changes on our social media and website to better serve our audience – artists and creative entrepreneurs! *cue makeover song*

 

The post The Social Media Artist 2.0 appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.

Find Your Insta-Aesthetic

Finding your Instagram aesthetic and creating a common theme throughout your content is a great way to stand out amongst the crowd and have a recognizable style that followers will come to know you for. Are your shots clean and sophisticated, or colourful and full of energy? Figure out what it is you are trying to say with the content you are creating, and try to reflect that through your posts. The same goes for your captions; short and sweet captions pair well with simple shots, while more engaging, longer captions may pair better with posts that tell a deeper story. Neither option is wrong, it just depends on your brand and the persona you are trying to create for it. Think of your Instagram page as an art gallery for your brand; everything should be reflective of the message you’re curating.

Get Creative With Instagram Stories

The Story feature on Instagram just keeps getting better. Posts on Stories last only 24 hours and appear on top of the home feed. From starting off as a basic photo and filter method for sharing a quick moment from your day (think Snapchat), it has turned into a storytelling tool that can really let you flex your creative muscles when it comes to producing quick content. Polls, gifs, and photo in picture tools all allow for fun content creation, and provide a space for letting your imagination run free! Not to mention, using polls or posing questions is a great way to stay engaged with your followers, and keep them interested in your Instagram page as a whole!

Instagram Stories Are Awesome!

Mix Up Your Content

Getting too repetitive with your content can be a quick recipe for disaster when it comes to any social platform. Unless posting the same content over and over again is somehow churning up engagement for you time after time, you will want to get creative with your post variety. For example, if you’re a painter, posting nothing but your artwork can be great for showcasing your talent, but this method misses the potential for showing off the many other aspects of being an artist! Creative studio setups, time-lapsed videos of art being made, and stylized shots featuring your tools of the trade are just a handful of prospective ideas for content that can bring your followers a little closer into a day in the life of you!

Quality > Quantity

This is a pretty consistent premise in many aspects of life, and it continues to ring true when it comes to creating content. While it may be tempting to pump out post after post from fear of missing out, there is nothing worse than spamming out content that tries to make up for lack of quality with overcompensation in quantity. Take your time, create a post you love and are proud of. Your hard work and patience will definitely pay off this way!

Spend Time In Post Production

Spending that extra bit of time using Instagram’s photo editing tools can sometimes be the deciding factor between a good post and a bad one. Luckily, Instagram makes it easy to tighten up any photo before showing it off to the world. If a basic filter isn’t enough to do the trick, you can manually adjust the brightness, contrast, colour and so much more, with a variety of tools that can have a huge effect on your content. Even the dullest of photos have a chance to be livened up in the editing suite, and spending the time adjusting the multitude of settings can go a long way in prettying up any picture.

Long story short, Instagram is great. It’s a platform that allows for complex creative expression without being overly complex. If you stick to these tips and continue to post regularly, engage with followers, and follow trends, your Instagram page will definitely be turning some heads before you know it. Now get posting!

The post 5 Tips For Creating A Compelling Instagram Feed appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.

Make New Connections

The most obvious and most important aspect of social media is engaging with other people and making connections. Reaching out to potential followers and like-minded individuals through liking, commenting and even creating a 1 on 1 dialogue is a great way to build a network. You can meet new fans, fellow actors who you admire, as well as casting directors and agents who can get you in the audition room. Making connections has never been easier than it is now; using relevant hashtags and posting on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram or Twitter can bring you new, relevant followers fast. Social media is a party and the only way to meet new people is through interaction, so don’t be shy!

[Tweet “Social media is a party and the only way to meet new people is through interaction, so don’t be shy!”]

It’s Your Online Resume

Using IMDb Pro can give you the chance to showcase the work you’ve done as an actor, including the roles you’ve earned, training you’ve gone through and education you have under your belt that qualifies you to be the amazing actor that you are! Using sites like YouTube or Facebook are also great for uploading direct photo and video content to demonstrate your talent and personality, showing people what it is that sets you apart from everyone else out there. Also, having an online resume/portfolio showing off your experience gives those with work opportunities a much higher chance of finding you and all that talent of yours!

Connect with Your Fans

Having a relationship with your fans and showing them some love and appreciation is a great way to keep them around, and possibly even bring some new fans in along the way. Reply to comments, share interesting content if it’s relevant to you, give fans a follow back, and advertise upcoming performances. Let people easily know when, where and what you’ll be performing, and how they can come to see you. Don’t be afraid to thank people for coming out; if you noticed specific individuals in attendance, reach out and show your gratitude. Be there for your fans and they’ll be there for you!

Find Work

Finding work with social media is much easier than finding it without. Making connections with the right people and having an online resume can boost your chances of finding work opportunities significantly, and many people looking for talent will post notices on social media sites quite frequently. Social media also presents entirely new opportunities for work in itself. YouTube web series, vlogs, sketches and more are all popular potential options where many now-famous actors got their start in the entertainment industry. It also gives you the freedom to make your own decisions and express your own creativity in a medium that has proven to be quite popular in online communities.

Find Communities

These are a great way to find alike people with similar interests. They could be a community of theatre actors, a community of film students looking for talent for their next short film, or even a community of fans who just appreciate acting and enjoy talking about what’s trending in the world of entertainment. The point is, these are groups of individuals who already like what you like and are talking to each other about it. If you insert yourself into these discussions, you can dramatically increase your chances of finding new followers, work opportunities, exciting offers and more!

Social media is only growing bigger and more prevalent in our world, and it is definitely here to stay. Having an online presence opens up more doors for possibility, provides a better outlet for building a name for yourself, and is essential for self-promotion…so what are you waiting for?

The post 5 Reasons Why Actors Should Be on Social Media appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.

Spend 30 Minutes Per Day on Social Media

Seems simple enough, right? Spending a minimum of 30 minutes a day on social media can help you see a dramatic change in your online presence. Use this time to check your major social platforms, talk to current followers, reach out to potential fans/collaborators, and post new content. Dedicating this small amount of time every day may not seem like much, but it can really make the difference in the long run. 

Engage More With Your Followers

Why do you think it’s called social media? If you’re only using your social channels to post content, you’re only fighting half the battle. Engaging and conversing with followers and fans on social media is an absolutely crucial way to build your fanbase. Respond to comments on your posts, thank followers for sharing your content, and use hashtag searches to find relevant posts and accounts where you can create your own conversations.

[Tweet “Why do you think it’s called social media? If you’re only using your social channels to post content, you’re only fighting half the battle.”]

Find Your Best Social Platform, and OWN It

Although being present on multiple social platforms and having a huge following on various channels would obviously be ideal, it isn’t a necessity – especially if you’re just starting out. Do some research to find out who your core demographic is, and what social platform they typically use the most. Also think about which platform would be best to promote your specific type of work and reach potential followers. For a rundown on different popular social platforms and what each is best for, take a look at our post here. 

Learn a new Social Platform

This one may seem a little overwhelming, but partnered with our first resolution idea, it’s quite easily achievable. Many platforms make things simple with user-friendly interfaces and designs, and there are more than enough tutorials and articles on the internet that are available to help with almost any problem you may face. Just be sure to learn a platform that is going to work with your goals as well as the artwork you’re creating. Not sure where to start? Here are a few suggestions for up and coming social networks that speak to artists. If you’re a musician, have some fun with Musical.ly , the social network dedicated to music lovers. If you’re an actor, YouTuber or any kind of content creator who loves live video, check out Hype,  which is a combination of Vine meets Snapchat meets Facebook Live! If you’re looking for a professional platform to showcase your creative work (think LinkedIn for artists) Behance, is a great tool to display your portfolio while connecting with other artists.

Put Some Money Into Paid Social Ads

Paid advertisements on social channels are an amazing way to boost your follower growth, as well as put your work in front of eyes that may have never seen it otherwise. And the best part about paid ads, is that you get to choose exactly how much money you want to spend, and exactly when you want to stop. With only a few dollars a day, you can put out content that can help you see a significant change in the way you use social media.  

Hopefully this list puts your mind at ease a little bit when it comes to thinking of that New Year’s resolution; just stay focused and stay determined and you’ll be sure to see results. But most importantly, Happy New Year! 

The post 5 Social Media New Year’s Resolutions for Artists appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.

Soundcloud

Soundcloud is an enormous community of artists and one of the best platforms to share tracks, receive feedback, build a fan base, and find other musicians. Many artists such as Post Malone and Bryson Tiller actually started their careers off the backbone of Soundcloud and were discovered straight from the site itself. With the music scene shifting more towards streaming rather than direct physical sales, this is a great platform to be taking advantage of.

Some of the great features of Soundcloud are:

• Users can like and repost your tracks. Similar to Twitter, when someone reposts your track, it will show up on their personal stream and allow their followers to see it, ultimately putting your music in front of more sets of eyes – Score!
• Comments on tracks are time stamped at the specific time in the song in which they were posted, giving you a neat way of seeing what specific part of your track made people want to comment.

Real-time comments are one of the many great features offered by Soundcloud.

• Statistics on when your tracks are getting plays, reposts, likes and comments are free with any basic account. Paid accounts can offer more valuable statistics such as plays by country & city, the names of the users who are playing your music the most, and which social networks and websites people are coming from to get to your songs.

Bandcamp

Just like Soundcloud, Bandcamp is another one of the best social media sites for musicians, labels and fans to get together and share music. While Soundcloud is more social media based with commenting and reposting, Bandcamp is skewed towards creating a more well-rounded sales platform for your music and brand, and is home to more full length albums, merch sales, and more.

Some interesting features offered by Bandcamp include:

• Setting a price or a “pay what you think is fair” option for your music so that you can start making money off of your track instantly. You can even create your own discount and promo codes!
• New artist recommendations that can automatically put your music in front of new fans, ultimately growing your potential follower base without having to lift a finger.
• In depth statistics showing what’s being purchased and when, where fans are coming from and more. A paid account can even link your Bandcamp statistics with Google Analytics for some serious data collection.
• The ability to sell merchandise! You can bundle together your music and merch to make different packages available at different price points.

Facebook

Although not directly related to music promotion, Facebook is an excellent platform to build a central hub for fans to reach out and have discussions, learn about upcoming shows, singles and more. With over 2 BILLION active users every month, it is also a great place to share content that has the potential to go viral.

Facebook offers many great page management tools that make it easy for you to highlight important info and find new fans;

• The use of a strong header image that shows upcoming singles, gig dates etc. is a great way to advertise important events without actually showing people an advertisement.

Here’s an example of a good promotional header image.

• The ability to pin posts allows you to pin popular content that is performing well to the top of your page where it can stay until you decide otherwise (perhaps a new video or single?)
• Pro Tip: Previous posts that have performed well can be used to grow your fan base by simply clicking on the ‘likes’ button to see who has liked the post, then clicking the ‘invite’ button to invite those likers directly to become fans of your page.

Twitter

When it comes to directly communicating with fans, fellow musicians, and even labels, Twitter is absolutely one of the best social media sites for musicians to be on. Creating a dialogue and engaging with those that are most important to you is an amazing way to build your fan base, get in touch with other artists for potential collaborations, and even get discovered by labels (fingers crossed!)

In order to get on top of the Twitter game, knowing how to get the most out of the platform as well as it’s features is crucial;

• Start utilizing Twitter Lists. This feature allows you to categorize people/accounts into specific groups of your choosing. Make a group for labels of interest, number one fans, music blogs, favourite artists etc. so that certain people of interest can be found in one place with ease.

Twitter Lists is located in the drop down menu when clicking on your profile icon.

• Pay attention to trending hashtags! Stay current and be aware if any of the content you are uploading will naturally relate to trending topics.
• Reach out to other artists to build relationships, music blogs for possible features, and stay up to date on what your competition is doing.
• Insert links at the beginning of your tweets rather than the end; they are more likely to get clicked on that way. Also be sure to use calls to action! If you ask for a retweet, there’s a better chance you’ll get it.

[Tweet “Reach out to other artists to build relationships, music blogs for possible features, and stay up to date on what your competition is doing.”]

Instagram

Instagram is one of the most popular and active platforms today, so not taking advantage of it would be a huge missed opportunity. Being the major platform for photo and video content, creating a brand for music on this platform and showing off behind the scenes footage of new song development, musician life, live performances and more is a great way to get your music heard.

Some important tips for using Instagram are to:

• Use relevant hashtags. Up to 30 hashtags can be included in a post and can easily be hidden in the first comment of your post instead of the caption to avoid the look of being too ‘hashtag-crazy’.
• Use the ‘story’ feature located at the top of the app to post a photo or video that lasts 24 hours and shows people what you’re up to in the moment. You can also start live videos from here!
• Follow other artists, labels, and music blogs. By now I’m sure you’re seeing a pattern. Building relationships is CRUCIAL on every platform and is one of the most important aspects of ALL kinds of marketing!

[Tweet “Building relationships is CRUCIAL on every platform and is one of the most important aspects of ALL kinds of marketing!”]

The world of digital music promotion can sometimes be a little overwhelming, especially when it seems like there is an endless number of websites and apps claiming to be the “be all and end all” for selling your work. But realistically, there is no one platform that is best to use, and instead you’ll find that creating a consistent presence across multiple platforms is the best method for successful music marketing. Hopefully this list gets you started off in the right direction, but if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send us an email :).

The post 5 of The Best Social Media Sites for Musicians appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.

1. Using Social media for Artist Marketing is “Selling Out”

This is probably one of the biggest things we hear from our clients at SMA. While you may think that putting your work up on social media is the equivalent to selling your soul to the big marketing machine, it really isn’t. It’s simply the way that things are done today, and it’s an absolute critical process in getting your work in front of the right sets of eyes. Merely using word of mouth and telling friends and family is just not enough anymore.

The tools now exist to show your art to the right audience with ease, and plenty of artists are taking advantage of this. If you are truly serious about turning your passion into paychecks, then accepting this reality and getting on the same level of your competition is a necessity. With proper planning and execution, your online artist portfolio can still hold true to your creative self image, and after time, the only thing you’ll see that your selling is your work itself.

2. Artist Marketing Takes Too Much Time

Would you say you have at least 10 mins of free time in a given day? Then you have enough time to market your art. Social media platforms have made it extremely easy to navigate and utilize their advertising tools with plenty of helpful tutorials and extremely user friendly interfaces.

Creating an advertisement on one of these tools typically takes no longer than 10 minutes if you know the type of audience you are looking to reach. After your ad has been created, checking it’s performance each week takes next to no time at all and can give valuable insights into how your post is doing, who is engaging with you, and ultimately who your new fans are.

Using social media management tools such as Hootsuite or Buffer are also great ways to help manage your time. Tools like these allow for posts to be scheduled with ease across multiple platforms at once, and allow you to monitor engagements and analytics of various social platforms all from one place; talk about a time saver!

Reserve my spot!

3. Artist Marketing Costs Too Much Money

If you have enough money to go buy that grande Starbucks latté every morning before work, then finding the money to market your art is the least of your worries! Paid advertising on social media can cost as little as a few dollars a day.

When creating a paid advertisement on social media, you get to set the maximum budget you wish to spend on that ad. Based off of the goals you aim to achieve as well as the advertising tool you are using, a specific algorithm will be used to put your ad in front of your target audience as frequently and efficiently as possible while staying within that set budget.

[Tweet “If you have enough money to go buy that grande Starbucks latté every morning before work, then finding the money to market your art is the least of your worries”]

4. People Online Might Steal My Art and Sell it as Their Own

If you’re just starting out in the world of social media and marketing your art, then this really isn’t something that you have to worry about. Unless you are a big time artist with an enormous following of thousands of fans, then worrying about somebody stealing your work and claiming it to be their own is not a pressing issue.

This almost certainly won’t happen

However, if it is concerning for you, using something like a watermark on your pictures or a disclaimer at the beginning of a musical track is something that can easily and quickly be done to prevent people from hijacking your masterpieces. Just keep in mind that an Instagram feed doesn’t look so pretty with watermarks. Consider the risk and act on it.

5. There’s Too Much Competition Stopping My Art From Reaching the Right People

We aren’t going to lie to you, you will have a lot of competition. But by using social media marketing tools to finely tune and define your target audience, getting your work to the right people is definitely an attainable goal.

Social media advertising tools such as Facebook Ads have changed the way that advertising is being done. Every time you go on a social media platform, you’re giving very valuable data about the pages you visit, your interests, hobbies, location, and so much more. All of this data is then utilized by these advertising tools to make finding the right target audience and marketing your work an absolute breeze.

For example, say you want to market your indie rock band that has a style inspired by artists like The Smiths and The Pixies; you can then use Facebook Ads to target people who are 1) Into indie rock, 2) Fans of The Smiths, and 3) Fans of the Pixies. This only scrapes the surface of the targeting options given to you on these social media advertising tools, but the end goal is a specific target that is best suited for your work.

See, artist marketing doesn’t seem so overwhelming now does it? We hope that this list eliminated some of the fears you may have had about presenting your work on social media, and that you feel confident and ready to create an online presence for your art. Thanks for reading and if you’re interested in taking your #ArtistMarketing skills to the next level – you don’t want to miss this webinar:

Reserve my spot!

The post 5 Biggest Artist Marketing Myths appeared first on Social Media Marketing for Creatives.