Social Branding for Musicians: Creating a Good First Impression

For many artists and musicians, the first thing many of your potential fans will see is one of your social media profiles. Depending on what platforms you’re most active on, this may be your Twitter profile or Facebook page. For others it may be your YouTube channel, or your Instagram feed.

Regardless of which platform you use most, it’s important that they are all branded and represent you as an artist, in the same way that your website should.

In this article, I’m just going to cover Facebook and Twitter. I will be discussing Google+ and YouTube in a future article, although many of the ideas and concepts will be transferrable between all platforms.

Consistency is key!

It’s so important that your brand is consistent across all platforms. In other words, your social media and website should present a consistent look. This will really help to make people familiar with the image you’re presenting, and will instantly set the tone for who you are as an artist or band.

This isn’t to say that your Facebook or Twitter have to look exactly like your website, or your YouTube channel – but there should be a consistent theme at the very least. So you should be using the same font or the same photography, or the same colour scheme across all of your platforms. Ideally, yes, they should all match – but there’s nothing wrong with a little variation as long as the overall tone and theme is the same. Some of the most effective examples I’ve come across while writing this post are actually ones which do have some variation but share one or two common elements.

At the very least, I recommend that you use the same avatar/profile image across all platforms. This is what most people will see first, so it’s important that this is instantly recognisable.

For example, take a look at Midas Fall’s Twitter and Facebook pages below. Their branding is consistent across both platforms, and ties in with their website, too. This is a strong branding decision, and instantly sets the tone across their entire online existence.

Reflect what’s going on in your career

If you have a new album out, then your social media platforms should make that obvious. Change your cover photo on Facebook, and your header image on Twitter to reflect that. Keep things current and stop them from being stale.

If you’re on tour, shout about it! Add your tour dates within the branding of your profile so that they’re instantly visible for anyone who visits. Take the Nine Inch Nails Twitter page as an example: they have their tour dates as part of the background, which (if you’re viewing on a large enough resolution) are instantly visible and tell you “hey, we’re on tour!” – this is great, and keeps everything up to date and relevant. They also use their Facebook page to advertise their new releases and current tour. You can see that they have varied their colour schemes on both platforms, but have maintained the same theme through the use of fonts and textures.

Our client Marcio Novelli has advertised his Canadian tour dates on his Facebook header, along with his recent DVD release. This shows people that there are things happening with him which helps to inform current fans about what’s going on, and also tells new fans that he is actively releasing new material and playing live.

Let’s Talk about Facebook!

Facebook offers customisation in the following areas:

Profile Photo

Cover Photo (size: 850 x 315px)

Custom Apps + App Icons

For the purposes of this article, I’m only going to discuss the main three which are the cover photo, profile photo and app icons as these are what a fan (or potential fan) will see when they first land on your page.

Cover Photo

Your cover photo should set the tone and instantly tell the viewer what you are about as an artist. This can be as simple as a good photograph that shows them who you are, or it can be artwork from your album or your website – whatever you choose to go with, it needs to have some kind of visual impact and represent you and your brand.

Profile Photo

Your profile photo can be anything you want it to be, but generally speaking it should be a clear photo of you or your band, or your logo. Some artists may want to draw attention to a new release, and might opt to showcase their album cover as their profile photo. People will have varying opinions on this, but I think that as long as it ties in with your overall branding, this can be a good idea. As long as this is consistent across your other platforms, I think this is fine. In saying that, however, for the most part (and especially for independent artists who are still building their followings), I would recommend using a photo or logo.

App Icons

On Facebook, you also have the option to install apps on your page, and you can customise the appearance of these app icons, too. This is something that my friends at CyberPR have done well – their icons match their overall branding and stand out as a result.

Some of our favourites…

An example of an artist whose Facebook page represents her well (in my opinion) is singer/songwriter, Miriam Bryant. She has a clear photo, her logo and EP title on there, which show us that she has a current release out there.

Another Facebook page that I think works well is City and Colour’s – it’s a very simple design that reflects their current album (at time of writing).

…And What about Twitter?

On Twitter, you have the following options for customisation:

Profile Photo

Header Image (size: 1252 × 626px)

Background Image

Profile Photo

For your profile photo, I would follow the same principles as on Facebook. Ideally, a clear photo or logo that matches the one you use across your other social networks. However, if you do want to highlight that you have a new release, this can be an option, but only if you’re established within your target market.

Header Image

The header image, like on Facebook, should set the tone and represent you and your music in a visual way. I would suggest using something that compliments your profile photo, and something that allows white text to be readable on top of it.

Background Image

Your background image can be used in many different ways. You may want to go for a more minimal look, or you may want to include tour or release information on there. It’s important to take into consideration that smaller screen resolutions may not see all of the text you include on your image, so make sure you use a template when designing your backgrounds. Or contact us and we’ll design one for you! ;)

Some of our favourites…

Here are a few examples of musicians’ Twitter pages that we think use branding effectively and are especially visually appealing:

The effort is worth it!

Taking the time to properly brand and customise your social profiles is definitely worth it. Creating a good first impression is so important, and you don’t want to risk turning potential fans off by having a half-assed or unprofessional looking page on Twitter or Facebook – it just sets the tone that your music is going to be of a similar standard.

If in doubt, just keep it simple. You don’t need to have an incredibly elaborate design – as long as the branding tells the viewer that you care enough to have a professional appearance online, and that it represents your sound, then you’re on the right track.

What do you think?

I’d love to hear from you. Let me know what Twitter or Facebook pages have stood out for you. If you’d like feedback on your own pages, please leave some links in the comments below and I’ll offer you some thoughts and ideas on them!