Social Media & the Independent Artist: How to Make It Work for You
Hey, it’s me, Kate! You may recognize me from the New Music Friday blog, but I am also the Executive Assistant & Head of Content Creation here at Music on the Move. Essentially, I help manage and come up with regular content for our socials, and handle whatever else our wonderful co-founders may need from me.
However, I’m also an independent artist and know firsthand what a daunting time-suck managing your own social media can be. I’ve even hired a social media manager in the past to try to help manage my own socials and know how beneficial it can be to hire someone.
In the same breath, a social media manager can only help you grow so far, if you as the artist are not clear on your social media goals. Basically, decide what it is you want to achieve most right now through using social media!
Get Clear on Your ‘Why’!
There are so many ways social media can be beneficial to you as an independent artist but it’s easy to lose yourself in the quest to keep up and be seen. The best thing you can do for yourself is to get very clear on WHY you’re using social media in the first place (and “because I have to” isn’t a good enough reason.), and then pick one clear avenue that you wish to pursue, whether that be to get more streams, increase your ticket sales, or develop brand partnerships, etc.
So, let’s break it down some options for why independent artists utilize social media:
“I want more followers.” This is the goal I hear most. Okay, great! Why? Having a high follower count can open the door for more opportunities all around! But keep in mind that having high numbers of followers doesn’t automatically equate to people at your shows, streams on your songs, or passive income rolling in your bank account. So, what exactly do you want from having more followers?
“I want people to stream my music.” Social media has been proven to be a great way to promote your music for free (mostly) and help build your fanbase, meaning more people may actually stream your music.
“I want to get brand deals so I can start earning passive income.” Brand deals can help generate passive income so you can more freely pursue your music career and help lessen your financial burden.
“Social media is great for connecting with other artists/bands.” It’s an easy tool to connect with fellow artists, musicians, producers, and engineers! It’s also a great way to stay up to date on local shows, and better build your personal musical community.
“I want to land more gigs.” A strong presence on social media can make it easier to book venues or land gigs with other artists.
Once you decide why you most actively want to use social media right now, you can start curating content to fit in with your goals! From there, approach developing your content first with this question:
“Why do I care, and why should anyone else?”
Once you know your why, it will be easier to create content that is fun and meaningful to you (making it feel less like a burden) and will better help you engage with people so that they are not only “followers” on your account, but genuine supporters of you and your mission!
If you need help getting clearer on your “why”, or simply feel stuck with creating content that feels engaging and true to you, reach out and book a consult with me!
