Category: Social Media Escape ClubCategory: Social Media Escape Club

This could be on your shop window or merch table. A simple way for people to scan a code, enter their info, and be added to your email list (good to have a backup pen and paper list, too).

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I said previously that maybe tossing promotional paper airplanes into the cyclone of digital content isn’t the best use of our time.

Building our work or brand on rented property is risky business, and for years we’ve been uploading content for free on social media platforms.

Then I heard Michelle Warner say recently to take 85% of the things we make “off your platform” and redistribute it in other places (listen here).

“Whether it’s a group of five people or landing some media, just get it off your platform so people don’t have to find you there.”

The answer was right there the whole time, in front of my dumb face.

“That’s where I break marketing into three stages; awareness, engagement, sales. People need to know you exist, then they need to like you, then they need to buy something from you.”

The podcast host, Jay Acunzo, then suggests that we parse out some of our content in ways that I feel like a lot of us have seen or have done in the past, like appearing on a podcast or seeing artists contribute to blogs or host classes.

As Michelle says, and I think this is the money quote, is to “get awareness off your plate and onto other platforms.”

Platforms in this case don’t have to be Instagram or TikTok, but trusted outlets with an established audience. Or a writer or artist you admire.

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If you’re an artist that’s still trying to grow a following, you can’t just imitate what the big guns are doing and expect the same results.

A band like Beartooth can do this because they’ve been around for over 10 years, sell out venues in Australia on co-headline tours, and probably have 25,000 people on their email list (probably more).

Another approach is what Teenage Wrist did with their recent newsletter, writing 300 words before even getting to their upcoming tour dates (which are all linked, btw).

“i’m coming at you from the floor of soda bar in san diego, waiting patiently for my generic charger to bring my phone back to full juice.  spiritual cramp is sound checking, and boy do those guys have some shit to say that i can relate to.  deeply poetic verses like, “wake up in the morning and i think i’m gonna die”, “i’m sick of looking at my phone” and “i wanna smash my phone”.  seriously… i’ve spent countless hours over the past four weeks in the back of the van opening and closing my instagram account, refreshing my email, waiting for the fleeting dopamine hit.  it has officially stopped coming.  i need to find a new vein.  i wanna smash my phone.”

You share feelings and emotions and stories through your art, so try doing the same thing when you send an email to your fans.

Neil Mason talks about this in his Artist Development Newsletter:

“Be the artist continually creating a great escape, and you’ll be the artist that people turn to whenever they need one.

And we all need one.

The trick here is to connect the narrative from your music to your social media, your concerts, your merchandise, and on and on.

The best escape artists meet their audience in their emotions by showing they have been there too and they understand.

Then, take your audience on a journey to escape their troubles, and as a by-product, you will escape yours by creating the audience you once wished you had and making the money you once wished you made.

Don’t compete on the final product – a zillion songs are uploaded to Spotify every day, and trying to set yourself apart from that noise is tough.

Like, look at what I do; there are 1,000 other people writing about email marketing for bands and artists on the internet.

But I’m also trying to help you get away from social media, while most of those marketing professionals are telling you how to optimize your TikTok account.

That’s not me, and that’s hopefully why you’re reading this.

NO CURE vocalist Blaythe Steuer said from stage at Furnace Fest that he better not catch anyone littering. The band is from Birmingham, Alabama.

I’m sure “mention littering” was not on the marketing plan, but the universe did its thing, and here we are.

Steuer could have said nothing, of course. But he mentioned littering, and this jaded dude who’s been going to shows for 30+ years thought it was funny.

I’ve added them to my Bandcamp wishlist, and streamed their catalog on Spotify.

My experience is not universal, though. Some people definitely littered at Furnace Fest.

Every action is still an action.

You react, or don’t.

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If social media imploded today, could you still reach your fans?

And if social media only let you reach 10% of your fans, what is the threshold of that reach to where it becomes not worth it?

Is it 8%? 5%? Do you even know how many fans you’re reaching on socials? Are you paying to reach your fans?

And if you have 5,000 followers on Twitter, or Instagram, and it just seems like the effort really isn’t worth it, are you really going to just walk away from them? Just put up a single post saying, “hey, make sure to follow on Spotify,” or whatever?

What’s your Social Media Escape Plan?

Because it was 144 days ago when Elon Musk took over Twitter, and it’s a miracle it’s still standing.

Meta is gonna fire 10,000 more people.

TikTok might get banned in the U.S.

These are platforms we rely on to reach our fans, and they’re completely out of our control.

If anything happens to these platforms, we lose the ability to reach our fans.

So get in the habit now of asking your fans to subscribe to your email newsletter, then build a content strategy today on how and when you’re going to reach your fans with an email newsletter.

Don’t wait until you lose contact with your fans to start thinking about this.