Get a Dynamic Social Media Presence

Social media is the current powerhouse of marketing, publicity and career building. If there is anything an indie musician needs, it is a strong social media system. Likes, shares, retweets all improve visibility, get better rankings for your website (as you link to it), and can be the fuel of a viral breakout hit.

Social promotion will require a long-term commitment, and daily attention. However, there are paid tools to make this easy, with a free basic version. Click here to get Hoot Suite and/or Simply Cast to manage all your social media promotion efforts.

On this page we will set up our social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Facebook Promotion

Phase 1 - Set up a Page for Your Music. This is not a personal page. It is a fan page. We start by filling it with good stuff.

Create page. Follow the far right top wedge, and click to create a page.
Choose the type of page, usually Artist, Band or Public Figure
In your "about" section, use your best promotional texts
Add a page photo, using your most compelling image or graphic
Post your best music video (either through Facebook video, or link to a YouTube, Vimeo, etc.. video)
Post links to where people can buy CDs and buy downloads of your music.
Add any other material that will impress

Phase 2 - Get People Engaged With Your Page

This is the key to social marketing and promotion.

Through your personal page, encourage people to "like" your page. This raises it's level and spreads awareness
Encourage people to comment on your page. Monitor the page for negative comments, which you should both take note of and either respond to strongly or remove, if the comment is hostile and not accurate.
Post promotional stuff on a regular basis. Make it sound social, not "advertising" style. Experts recommend weekly promotions, not more. Pictures and videos are best.
Post personal, interesting and non-promotional stuff on a daily basis. It is social media, and too much hard-sell will turn people off and tune them out. Again, keep it visual with a picture.
Post personal updates twice a week. Things like recent gigs, a peak into the new song you are writing, a photo from a rehearsal, etc... Let your followers feel you are sharing your artistic life with them.
Invest a modest amount to promote your page through Facebook ads and promote pages and posts. Click on Build Audience on the upper left of your FB page, and do all three (Import Contacts, Invite Friends, and Promote Page - paid).
Use Simply Cast (free or paid) to schedule all the postings. Click here to sign up
And/or, use Hoot Suite to manage your social media promotion. Click here.

Twitter Promotion

Log in or sign up with Twitter.
Click on the Me tab, or follow the setup instructions to update your profile with your best promotional texts and bio.
To "follow" people or entities, use the search box to find people with the right interests, e.g. guitarists, and then click on the "Follow" button at the far right. Start with friends and acquaintances (search for them by name).
Post 15 tweets: 5 personal (what's new with you?), 5 professional (gigs, links to your site or FB page, video links and music), 5 conversation starters (about music, news, anything really). This is done on your Home page, in the Tweet box on the left.
Follow another 25 people.
Repeat 4 and 5 until you have built up a real following.
Create and maintain a daily and weekly tweeting schedule of these three kinds of Tweets. Again, Hoot Suite or Simply Cast automates this for you.

LinkedIn Promotion

Log in or sign up with LinkedIn
Set up your profile. This is a real business card, so use a mix of professional and promotional material. Choose a professional headshot. Get your contact information, and make it easy to both know you and reach you from your page.
Grow your contacts with the tools on the page, including email search, interest search (use the search bar at the top of the page, and click "Connect" on each profile that's relevent.
Post Updates (from the Home page) of a professional nature that invite responses. Engage your contacts, and update them on your doings.
Use the messaging system for networking.
Grow your contacts by adding secondary contacts (contacts of contacts). The more relevent people, the more leverage you have.
Recommended searches are music agents, bloggers, reveiwers, bookers, and fellow musicians.
Create and maintain a regular schedule of updates. LinkedIn is less of a constantly moving network than Facebook and Twitter, but you do wish to maintain weekly activity. Otherwise, your account will look dormant, sending people away. Again, Hoot Suite and Simply Cast can do this for you.

When you're satisfied, click here for the next Music Promotion Action!

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The Music Zone