Category: Social MediaCategory: Social Media

Max Pete and I had a nice talk about chasing tech dreams, the rise (or comeback?) of offline community, and how creatives can find balance between being seen online and actually living their lives.

Some solid quotes from Max during this talk:

“The tech dream is a nightmare… more people I talk to that are in this industry want to leave and do something else—like work at the coffee shop, work at Trader Joe’s—but don’t know how to do that or feel like they can’t.”

“As a community professional, we often put ourselves on the back burner… it leads to burnout. My next talk will be about how to take care of yourself while taking care of others.”

It’s okay to be forgotten and not know everything or everyone. You don’t need to be famous or popular or known by everyone to do good work.

I got this question from Leslie recently:

I recently started on Substack after being inspired by Mad Records’ experiment of releasing music outside Spotify. I have a small following and want to build a community I can keep, even if I eventually move platforms. Connection is important to me, but I’m unsure how to offer value or grow my audience. As I explore Substack through tutorials, I’m seeing a lot of concern about the platform shifting towards social media-style features (ads, algorithms, etc.) that may not be ideal for creatives. I’m feeling discouraged. Do you think Substack is still worth the effort for building a community?

First off, as an artist, you are not offering value or growing an audience, you’re making magic and pulling people into your creative orbit.

Second, yes, Substack is veering into social media territory for sure. But right now it’s an effective tool for letting curious visitors sign up for your email list.

So, all that said, time spent on Substack doing anything to attract any amount of readers is time well spent. Finding fans is one thing, but being able to reach those fans is another. If Substack allows you to build an email list of 10 people, well, you get the email those 10 people for the next several years. Every bit of effort here is worth it because of the foundation you build with an email list.

If you’re still using one of those Link In bio services, now is the time to clean it up. My god, I’ve seen some artists with 50+ links in those things. Do you expect fans to dig through all those? More choices just means your fans aren’t even going to click anything.

Consider putting all the things you’re linking to (YouTube videos, music, upcoming appearances, store) on your own website, then just simply linking to your website. One link to rule them all.

I wrote that we spent years putting our best “content” onto social media platforms, and wonder why no one visits our websites anymore, to which Matt replied:

I keep finding my way back to your site because this premise is so enticing. What do you think are the best “top of funnel” strategies for growth if someone really wants to embrace the your name dot com lifestyle? I’m doing music, so I could imagine focusing more on live shows and pen/paper email list sign ups. But then I wouldn’t have met you!

To think of all the people I haven’t met, because I’m not on TikTok, right?

Or because I didn’t go to that local event last Tuesday!

I’ve met some great people on Twitter. Could I have met more great people if I had stayed? Sure, but at what cost?

Would juggling multiple social media accounts over the last few years have helped me become the Seth that I am today?

No way.

What if instead of hoping for favor with the algorithms to achieve more awareness we embrace the serendipity? The realness?

What if less is more? What is enough?

Q. SETH, WHAT DO I EVEN PUT ON MY WEBSITE?

A. Think of the 1,000 posts you’ve put on social media over the last decade. That. That’s what you’ll put on your site.

Those links you send to friends via text? Yeah, put them on your site and write about ‘em. Same with YouTube videos and albums you find on Bandcamp and Spotify.

All those “image assets” you posted on Instagram that 95% of your fans didn’t even see? Put those on your website.

The interviews, and bits of press you’ve gotten? Put them on your website.

Your videos can still reside on YouTube. But they can also sit on your website, surrounded by behind-the-scenes photos and stories about the shoot (and buttons to buy your things).

Stop shoveling all our best work onto platforms you don’t own and then wonder why no one visits your website.