Today we’ll talk about:
- Putting energy into the music system
- Instant fans vs slow burn fans
- The magic of clarity
- Your target audience & value
- Cutting the sh—t
- Does quality still matter in 2023?
- Pretty privilege on social media
- The wrong social media advice
3 quick things that might interest you before we dive in:
- #1: Enrolment for Round 2 of my course + coaching program is open now! There are limited spots available, so if you want to do something special for your music career before the year is out, I highly recommend you get in quick. You can check out details and enrol here.
- #2: If you didn’t know, on Oct 10th I have a FREE training on how to grow your fan base, which you sign up to here.
- #3: Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sending more regular tips & insights about branding, content, social media growth, releasing music + more. This will be leading up to when the course doors close. If you’d prefer to just get the weekly emails, you can opt out of the extras by clicking here.
Ok, back to it!
#1. Are you putting energy into the system?
Of all the things musicians struggle with on social media, one of the biggest has got to be the ability to keep putting energy into the system.
Your music career needs to be constantly fed with new music, new content, presence, and more.
Showing up consistently is hard, but (assuming your music + content is great) it’s one of the major differences between musicians who get far on the platforms vs the ones who don’t.
But social media can be exhausting, and we’re only human.
So I’ve spent the last few years working alongside musicians to figure out how to master this, and I’ve found you need two main things:
- A tight social media system that allows you to get all the important stuff done consistently without burning out.
- The capacity to work in chaos. Having a system creates structure and will make it much easier to keep putting energy into the system. But chaos is always there, and if you can learn to work with, you’ll be able to keep going.
Productivity in general is highly important too; you need to be in control of your time and energy as much as you can (around your 9—5 if you’ve got one).
You can read more about that here.
#2: Stop chasing instant fans. Start creating slow burn fans.
At least once a week someone will comment under one of my posts about making a lot of content: “If you have to post about your music this much it must not be very good.”
What they’re saying is that if people don’t instantly fall in love with your music after you post about it once, then you missed your shot.
This is a dangerously wrong approach to marketing yourself.
One of the biggest reasons myself and other people in this space push posting about your music consistently is because of how rare it is for someone to come across your music once and be instantly in love—especially on social media.
Most people need to experience you multiple times before they even start paying attention at all.
Think about some of your favourite albums—I bet for at least some of them it took you a while to warm up to them, right?
Some of my favourite albums I didn’t even consider that great at all when I first heard them.
Repetition is not optional in the social media music marketing game. It’s essential.
Get your music out there 🙂
#3: The magic of clarity.
One of the biggest and best bits of feedback I’m getting from Round 1 of my course + coaching program is just how much clarity the artists are getting.
Knowing exactly what to do to define your artist identity, how to approach content, social media growth, and everything else gives you a lot more than you think.
Not only do you now know what to do (that’s an obvious win), but it also gives you a massive boost in confidence, energy, motivation, and positivity.
This has lead to artists in the course like Kate going from feeling uninspired and demotivated on social media, to being “hungry for more” (her words).
Not only is she insanely more productive now, she’s also growing, gaining new fans, and constantly levelling up—and she’s only about half way through.
Don’t underestimate what clarity can do for you.
Sure, it’ll show you what to do… but it’ll also give you that boost you’ve been missing.
If you’re lost, seek clarity.
#4: How does your target audience get value from you?
If you want to get an edge over the competition and market your music successfully on social media, you need to know the answer to this:
How does your specific audience get value from you as an artist?
You might say ‘the music, obviously’. But hold up.
What is that music representing?
A desired status? A specific identity? A mood? Something else?
Not everyone gets value from an artist and from music in the same way.
Some people appreciate the intricacies of the craft. Others love how they share an identity with the artist. Others want to live the same lifestyle as the artist.
If you can identify how your specific audience gets value from you as an artist, you stand to make a much bigger impact on social media—and everywhere.
#5: Cut the sh—t.
So many musicians are making themselves busy, but not productive.
They load themselves up with a million things to do (and don’t get me wrong, musicians have a lot to do!), overcomplicate their situation and wear themselves out.
One of the hardest things to do is simplify. But it’s the answer you’re looking for.
Focus on the few heavy hitters that are responsible for the bulk of your success.
When it comes to building your fan base on social media, those things are:
- High quality music
- Artist identity / brand
- Content
- Social media growth
- Sustainability
Anything outside of that is likely distracting you from what’s really helping.
Elaborate plans, an overly full schedule, and focusing on anything and everything is not helping you. You’ll feel like you’re doing a lot… but you’re not really.
If you’re stuck wondering about hashtags, posting time, trending audio, and doing as many things as you possible can—you’re wasting your time.
Real progress comes from getting undeniably good at the basic stuff.
#6: Quality still matters in 2023+.
It’s absolutely true that certain types of content get pushed out on social media way more than others.
And it’s understandable that many musicians hold the belief that ‘no one cares about quality art anymore…’
But it’s simply not true.
Yes, there is absolutely no shortage of frustratingly shallow people on the internet—and those annoying masses push stupid content to the forefront of social media…
But people still care about quality—just not those people.
Your people, the people you want to pay attention to your music, care about quality.
There are plenty of people online who are searching for something more, something with real substance—it’s just that we mostly see a lot of trash and assume that’s what everyone wants.
Don’t let these platforms discourage you from making real, quality art just because they aren’t pushing it out.
There are other ways to make these platforms work for you. A big part of my course + coaching program is helping you create a system for this.
Never sacrifice quality where it matters.
#7: Pretty privilege is real.
It might sound like a brutal truth for musicians on social media, but yes, pretty privilege is 100% real.
But here’s the good news… everyone can be pretty on social media.
And no, not with filters. Here’s what I mean:
Our brains like pretty things more.
This is literally true; when you experience something you consider aesthetically appealing, certain brain regions associated with emotion and valuation are activated.
This applies not just to attractive people, but also to attractive content.
So if you can make your content aesthetically appealing, you stand to make a much bigger impact with it.
This means great audio, video quality, the scene or setting in which you choose to record—anything that helps make it ‘pretty’.
Does that mean content that isn’t aesthetically pleasing can’t do well? Of course not.
But knowing about this bias in our brains will help you to no end.
Pretty content privilege is real, and we can all make our content pretty, so take advantage of it.
#8: Stop letting social media business accounts tell you how to grow.
A lot of musicians follow social media experts so they can learn how to grow their audience.
These accounts will often give advice that is heavily business—oriented, and while this is mostly fine, not everything they say applies to musicians.
A lot of people in their audiences are service—based business owners.
Their content is all ‘how to’ and advice for their potential customers.
This is not the deal for most musicians. A lot of musicians just want to share music and bits of who they are.
Advice like “talk about the problem and solution” etc. can be great (depending on what kind of content you’re making), but for the majority of musicians it’s not relevant.
Same with this ridiculous idea that you shouldn’t engage with people who might become a part of your audience.
That rule that doesn’t apply to musicians at all.
Building a community—which includes other musicians and fans of your music—on social media is one of the most important things you can do.
Yet some of these accounts are actively discouraging it, claiming it’s a waste of time.
Don’t listen to this.
Yes, you have a business. But when it comes to business advice (regarding social media at least), a lot of it doesn’t apply.
Musicians need a different, more interactive, human approach to social media.
Please do interact with others and take the social media business experts’ advice with a grain of salt.
I hope these gave you something to think about!
Before we wrap up, here are the three reminders again:
- #1: Enrolment for Round 2 of my course + coaching program is open now! There are limited spots available, so if you want to do something special for your music career before the year is out, I highly recommend you get in quick. You can check out details and enrol here.
- #2: If you didn’t know, on Oct 10th I have a FREE training on how to grow your fan base, which you sign up to here.
- #3: Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sending more regular tips & insights about branding, content, social media growth, releasing music + more. This will be leading up to when the course doors close. If you’d prefer to just get the weekly emails, you can opt out of the extras by clicking here.
All the love and talk soon,
Alex
