Five Tips for Musicians to Engage Their Fans Digitally
Jason Feinberg just wrote an article over at PBS about how to tap into social media to advance your music.
My first year of college was the last year that MySpace wasn’t a household name. A fan of a band I was in at the time kept hounding me to start up an artist page on MySpace, to engage fans better. I seriously said something to the effect of “Why? MySpace is just the next Live Journal, and it will be faded and un-trendy within a year.” Clueless. This was on the heels of mp3.com going down and everybody waiting to see what site would emerge as the next big web music player (as if there could only be one). I staked my bets on PureVolume and completely ignored the rest. That was the wrong play. A year or two later, MySpace blew up, and those first few artists that jumped on the MySpace train really saw dividends from their time investment into the site. So my laziness and skepticism robbed the band of an opportunity to capitalize on a brand new social media market that would later prove to be one of the biggest influences of our culture today. Now, I’m on the flip side of that coin. I try to engage every facet of web presence possible to be sure I don’t miss the next web phenomenon.
Don’t let your snobbishness or fear of investing your time in a dying trend keep you from seizing an opportunity to promote your music (or knock other musicians… if that’s your bag).
Here are Jason’s 5 points (you can also read his full article here):
Tweet1) Add functionality that will connect to your fans.
In crafting your digital marketing plan, first ask, does this technology add functionality that will connect to your fans? Many artists fall into the trap of using a digital asset simply because it does something interesting or innovative. When they first came online, a slew of artists adopted video remix contests, but soon found that their fans were not willing to put in the time and effort to create a usable finished product. As people learned the hard way in the late ’90s, technology for technology’s sake often results in amazing software with no users. If the product being implemented does not encourage repeat use and add something to a fan’s experience, it is effectively useless. A great technology used once is barely better than nothing at all.
2) Technology is not a “one size fits all” solution.
Different technology platforms are geared towards different users. Mobile music marketing rarely makes a dent for older-facing musicians, while many youth-facing pop and hip-hop artists have used phone technology with tremendous results.
Shareable widgets often have massive value, but only if the artist’s fan base is naturally inclined to spread things they find interesting. Nine Inch Nails fans are notorious for being a tight-knit community; technology that engages them will not work for an artist whose fans are simply into their music and not the associated community.
3) Do not understimate time commitments.
Next, artists must consider how much time they are willing to commit to implementing the chosen technologies. Just as a fan only using something once has little value, there’s little value when artists do not follow through in their marketing efforts.
In fact, depending on the scale and depth to which fans have been involved, abandoning efforts can have a negative impact on the artist’s reputation. For example, if a musician begins using the micro-blogging platform Twitter, builds a large base of followers, gives them a glimpse behind the scenes, then abandons the effort, these fans may not just lose interest but take their disappointment public in the form of message board posts, social network comments, and other inter-fan communication.
This has happened recently in the political arena as a number of President Obama’s Twitter followers publicly voiced their annoyance that his tweets had dried up since taking office. Often this only has a limited effect, but, given the viral nature of social media, this can damage an artist’s brand in the long run. If a long-term digital marketing effort is not sustainable, a more realistic or shorter-term alternative needs to be substituted.
4) Create a plan for implementation and awareness.
Artists must also develop a plan for creating awareness of these digital tools. Without fans’ eyes and ears, the quality of the product and the plan are irrelevant. Musicians must find a balance between using forward-thinking technology and spending time on core fan-building techniques. The enormous benefit of music technology is that it enables artists to continually give their fans a reason to pay attention. However, if a band only has a weak fan base to begin with, their foundation must be strengthened before the value of these digital tools can be realized.
5) Use all available web properties.
An artist must use sites they control (official site, social networks) as well as online social media (music portals, blogs) to maximize the reach of these assets. Without a combined effort on these two avenues, fans miss the communication and the marketing message falls flat.
Fortunately, most of the issues outlined here are fully within an artist’s control. Once an artist has an understanding of his fan base and the means to reach them, he can begin building a digital marketing strategy, one that will engage, inspire, and create long-term interest.
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