Unlimited Advice
(Written by Bill Rhoten, CCO)
This month, let's talk a little bit about social media…...
Real fans vs. cyber fans?
Some artists base their entire interaction with fans over social media. Connecting with fans over social media is great, and in today’s music world, it is almost a necessity, but one common error that I see many artists and record labels make is making social media the ONLY interaction with their fans. This is no good because with the digital medium, you lose much of the personal side of things. Artists should perform at LEAST 1-2 shows per month and when you are not on stage, don’t just surround yourself with friends and sit at the bar, work your merchandise table or go around and introduce yourself to potential fans. Often times this is just the interaction that can make a patron of a show go from thinking you put on a good performance to being a solid fan and supporter.
Verification means nothing...
I hear so many artists referring to other performers and musicians as “Twitter Verified Artist” or, almost begging to have their social media verified. This verification is in existence as a way for fans of celebrities to determine that they are following the REAL artist, not an imposter or a fraud so that slanderous posts from an account posing as said celebrity can be less damaging to their career. Remember this; when you start to base an artist's value on whether or not they have that magical blue checkmark by their name and photo, you are disrespecting the music all together as Twitter carres nothing what your music sounds like. If Twitter has not chosen to verify your account, that just means that the risk of a fraudulent account with your name will not do the damage that it would to a large profile celebrity.
Stop purchasing fans!
So, one thing that I see on social media a lot is people selling followers, likes, plays, etc. This is a sad practice that can really backfire in the long run. First, at most 1% of these “fans” (if ANY) will spend a dime purchasing your music or streaming it. I have seen the statistics from many artists that have tens of thousands of followers/likes/fans but struggle to sell or stream their music, even when said purchased fans are posting about how much they love the music and whatnot. If you want to spend some money to promote your music, use it purchasing advertisements in print magazines or online blogs instead. This will not inflate your personal ego like seeing 35K followers/likes etc, but at the end of the day there will be RESULTS.
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