Category: MarketingCategory: Marketing

Stories work, friends.

Feeling stuck on what to send to your fans this week? Here’s three things your fans might appreciate in the coming days:

🌮 Oct 4: National Taco Day

Don’t just say, “hey, happy National Taco Day,” tell your story about how you kinda met Jack Dorsey of Square. Okay, I didn’t really meet him, as I was busy stuffing tacos and making coffee, but he stopped by our little shop and hooked us up with shiny new Square equipment. Seemed like a nice guy.

💔 Oct 5: Mike Alexander of Evile passed away in 2009

Just 32 years old, gone far too soon. I got to meet Mike when I was running Noisecreep, when we had Evile in for an interview, and he was a sweet, kind dude.

💿 Oct 7: Candiria’s While They Were Sleeping came out in 2016

This banger turns seven years old this year.

Maybe you’ve got an epic story about getting tacos after a show. Or you have a killer salsa recipe.

Maybe you played a show with Evile, or you met Mike years ago, or just love their latest album. Share something genuine, and the spirit of Mike Alexander lives on, 14 years later.

Maybe you haven’t listened to Candiria in awhile, and this brings up good memories.

All of these are just ideas to show that you’re not just a band with an album to sell, an artist with a new print, or a photographer for hire – they show you’re a real person, with unique experiences and stories to tell.

And people buy from people that vibe with. Just saying.

NOTE: Please double check all these dates. I’m a one dude operation here, so mistakes happen, and yes, I’m gonna miss a bunch of stuff. Use this as a guide!

ANTI-SOCIAL

A vulgar display of social media hostility

“But now, the couple said, the change to Instagram’s algorithm has resulted in some (of Idea’s) Instagram Stories reaching barely 1 percent of their audience,” from ‘Instagram’s Favorite Bookseller Is Ready to Go Offline.’

“Instagram changed the hashtag system,” says Craig Gleason, “you can no longer see ALL the posts connected to a hashtag, only the ones they decide are “TOP” posts.” Not great!

“To be an artist, a writer, an herbalist, a creative and thoughtful person – we are risking so much at the hands of the apps that keep us sucked in,” says Cody Cook-Parrott Grace in ‘I quit Instagram.’

“My beef is more with Facebook and Meta than with the hackers,” says co-artistic director of Punkt Festival Erik Honoré in ‘The anatomy of a Facebook account heist.’

“You don’t need to reach a million people all the time. You don’t need to reach a thousand people all the time… one person can do it.”

This video centers on a simple but easily forgotten idea: impact doesn’t come from scale first—it comes from attention landing in the right place.

After talking with a longtime musician who quietly kept sending extreme metal records to college radio, the result surprised him. Once a station latched on, everything changed: “now instead of playing to old dudes with their arms crossed we’re playing to young kids who are going crazy.”

The lesson is this: “just because a thousand people didn’t see your thing, maybe one person that someday can do something with that is the person that you need to constantly be putting that in front of.”

You won’t always know who they are, but that’s why you keep going.

Less “I need more subscribers,” more “my current subscribers need my best work.”

As Seth Godin says, if fans ain’t talking, you need to change, or find new fans.

Don’t assume the level of your fans’ love for what you do.

Don’t assume they lack interest in how you operate and work.

You don’t have to JUST announce the essentials (the facts) of what you do.

For example, if you have a new album coming out, you can send an email campaign with the album art, some facts, and a button for people to click to order it.

BUT… you could also include a few paragraphs about the inspiration behind the music.

A quote from the artist who designed the artwork.

A photo or two of you working in the studio, or even your bedroom recording set up!

Don’t assume that “nobody cares,” or think, “why would anyone be interested in that?”

Maybe casual fans won’t give a f*ck. Fine.

But the ones who LOVE what you do?
The ones that just want to support you and your art and your magic?

They’ll appreciate it.

Nobody knows everything you’re doing.

Most of your followers don’t know about your next course, your next photo session, your next tour, your new shirt.

Here’s some wild things you can do:

➡️ Reply to someone who leaves a comment with a link
➡️ DM someone and let them know about your new project
➡️ Email someone directly
➡️ Make personalized videos with Loom and send to fans (like this):