Over the past decade, social media has been the greatest game changer for musicians. Now, you’ll appear less credible if you don’t have at least one of the big three social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). Many musicians have been able to use social media marketing to maximize their exposure and gain fans worldwide.

Social media marketing isn’t the easiest thing to do for most musicians at the start. But it does get easier as you go along, especially if you’re consistent. The following guide will help you create a consistent string of simple activities that will help you increase your online presence and effectively promote your music to fans online.

Don’t only post about yourself

Don’t be that artist that only posts about yourself. There are only so many times you can post your tour dates and the new song you’re about to release. The key is to diversify the content you post. Most people look to social media for new information about a variety things, and you want your audience to view you as a good source of information that they can trust and learn from. You can accomplish this by posting various types of inspirational, informative, and funny videos or images that your fans can enjoy.

Schedule your posts

It gets difficult to be very active on social media when you’re living life and creating music at the same time. When hiring a dedicated person to manage your social media isn’t an option, you should try planning your posts ahead of time with scheduling apps. Social media scheduling apps let you save time by allowing you to plot several days worth of content to post well in advance. All you have to do is pick the dates and time for the tool to automatically post your content for you. Buffer, Hootsuite and many other scheduling apps offer a free trial that you can use if you’re only looking for basic scheduling features.

Create more micro videos

Quick snack sized video content could mean the world to your social media marketing. Micro videos that range from 15–60 seconds, are perfect for fans on the go. People often enjoy sharing short video content on their social media feeds, even more than images. Producing micro videos could be done with any budget because they could be shot, edited, and shared, all from your smartphone.

Document and share your journey

Fans always appreciate an artist that they feel like they connect with on a personal level. The best way to establish a personal connection with your fans is by allowing them to have a peek into your world. You can start by sharing memorable moments working in the studio and performing on stage. Even just showing fans valuable clips of your day to day life can be interesting as well. Just put your phone to use by capturing memorable moments that fans can appreciate.

Work with social media influencers

Influencers can be people or blogs with a major follower base and have authority to sway fans in some way. The heightened visibility you could receive from the right influencer sharing your music can result in an increase of fans, followers, and even greater media coverage. To be honest, it will be very difficult to get them to post about you for free when top brands are providing them with paid sponsorships for them to talk about their products. There’s also been a growing trend of influencers promoting sponsored music paid by artists and record labels. (shameless plug: Zambah makes it easy for musicians to find and hire influencers who can provide music promotion — our community of social media influencers are perfect for any budget.) You can also try getting on their radar by blogging about them, sharing their content, following them on social media, commenting on their posts, and sending them stuff that may be useful for what they do.

By: kennyg_

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.