Will you please like my fanpage?
How many times a week do you see a post that looks like this from an artist?
It's so sad really, because so many times when you take a leap of faith and join their page or follow them all they ever talk about is buying their CD, listening to their songs, joining their email list or what shows they are playing.
I saw one well-intentioned artist post dozens of petitions to 'listen and share' one of their new songs on Facebook. When the posts apparently weren't getting results, they posted in an annoyed tone "There's a lot of you who haven't listened or shared the song!" I've met this person in real life, and they are as kind as can be; they would never walk up and immediately start pushing you to listen to their tunes.
So what happened?
The sad truth is that many artists, while creative, are buying into a tired and totally false fairytale that talking about yourself works. They think saying "buy my CD" and "follow me on twitter" and "visit my website" or other junk like that will make you do it. But, let's face it, that's just not how the world works. It's not really natural.
Have you ever tried to have a conversation with someone who ONLY talks about themselves? Boring and annoying. And it's such a shame too because people are all so interesting!
Here are 15 creative social media content ideas to get you started:
- Videos- in the studio, from a show, from the musicians, about a song
- quotes- images with your intro work best for search engines.
- photos- ask fans to tag themselves in a photo you take of them at the show, ask them to caption a photo, etc. These could also be personal photos like a sunset, your front porch, practice space, setting up the stage before a show.
- Giveaway for milestones! For example when you hit 500 fans you may want to giveaway a few free CDs to fans
- share a tune you love from another artist- and tag their page
- shout out to radio stations that play your music- hi five a dj, station shout out, thank your radio promoter, the fans for requesting, share chart info if any
- TBT- Throw Back Thursday- Each Thursday, share an old photo from you or your family. Could be from a family vacation, photos of you playing drums as a kid, really anything!
- Behind the music- share a story from a song on your record
- Welcome new fans by name!
- Repost popular posts in different ways
- Ask fans questions—what’s your favorite song? What would be your DREAM concert? could also be personal questions- what plans do you have for the weekend
- talk about news—did a jazz legend pass? you may want to share that. If there is a tragedy of sorts, you may want to post that too.
- tell a mini- story about music, why you love it, etc.
- talk about workshops and speaking engagements
- lists- you may want to share your top 5 favorite songs in the genre