Category: Social MediaCategory: Social Media

Seth Godin in 2011 on “Getting serious about the attention economy:

“Every interaction comes with a cost. Not in cash money, but in something worth even more: the attention of the person you’re interacting with. Waste it–with spam, with a worthless offer, with a lack of preparation, and yes, with nervous dissembling, then you are unlikely to get another chance.”

Tweet another “new song” link, or post a static image to the Instagram feed when you should be posting a video (as IG boss Adam Mosseri said in this interview).

While the bar is low, there’s so much we can do, without a massive amount of effort.

Even with just plain old text:

🚫 “Hey, we’re on Revolver’s 6 Best Songs Right Now list.” [LINK]

✅ “Djent riffage that rumbles like a chunk of glacier breaking off and crashing into the choppy sea,” says Revolver Magazine [LINK]

Copy and paste what the established media outlet said about you, and then show it to your fans.

Do the thing that other people aren’t!

“Change comes from intrinsic forces, not extrinsic ones. If you think things are shit, you can — whisper it — stop making shit things.

We’ve be throwing “shit things” at the walls for so long it’s hard to notice the stink.

Now, do you have to chug Starbucks drinks to promote a new single, get 62K views, and covertly get 62K people to listen to track in the process?

Well, no.

You don’t need to make dance videos, or start a podcast, either.

But you need to do your thing, in a way that translates online, that your fans can actually view and get excited about.

Find a way to display your magic on these cursed platforms, and do it in a way that feels comfortable and sustainable.

The world needs you, and so do your fans.

I have good news, and I have bad news.

The good news is the vault is open, and by vault, I mean social media.

You’re still able to link to your latest video, or a new song, or ask people to join your email list.

The bad news is that you can only swipe a few dollars at a time from the vault.

That post got 7,927 views.
Revolver has 416,600 followers.
2% of their followers saw it (and 98% didn’t).

Revolver entered the vault, and with a 2% click rate, they walked out with about 130 clicks.

At 5%, that’s 400 visits to their website.

The vault is open, so they keep posting.

Carter Vail has 211,000 followers and got 400 people to pre-save his song, which means just 0.1% of his fans pre-saved his new track.

The vault is open, so he keeps posting videos and making music.

I had about 2,600 Twitter followers at one time, and got four people total to subscribe to Social Media Escsape Club.

PERSON BY PERSON, DRIP BY DRIP

You might be interested in getting away from social media, and thinking that you can pull a lever and all your followers will magically sign up for your email list, or start visiting your site.

Linda Bloomfield moved her #OpportunityTuesday from Twitter (with 16,500 followers) to Substack in late 2022, and got 1,200 people to subscribe to her newsletter from one Tweet.

There should be studies on how well that worked. And it’s still just 7.2% of her Twitter audience.

But again, the good news is that the vault is still open.

Take what you can get.

Social media can be a full-time job – if you let it become a full-time job.

Let me explain Parkinson’s law; “work expands to fill the time allotted to it.”

So if your online marketing plan is just, “ehh, whenever I get to it,” great – you’re now a full time social media person.

After all, you’ve set no boundaries or limits. You get to always think about social media, and fret about if you’re doing enough, and if you should post something.

“Oh man, I haven’t posted on Facebook is weeks!”

Instead of that amateur-hour nonsense, set up a plan that fits your life, since you probably have better things to think about than social media.

Open up Google Calendar, we’re going to create an “editorial calendar.”

If you’ve got a new song coming out, put that in there.

Now, plan a social media post two weeks before that date.

Then seven days. Then three.

Oh, the new song is out! That’s another post.

Now, plan a post for three days after it comes out.

And seven days.

And 14 days.

Your numbers may vary, but you get the point.

Go into Twitter, write out your posts, include an image, and schedule them.

Use Facebook’s Business Manger thing and do the same to schedule posts on Facebook and Instagram.

Congrats! That’s the bare fucking minimum to have a seemingly active social media presence, and 95% of bands in your scene can’t be bothered, so you’re a star.

But what about when you don’t have a new song coming out, or a new tour?

Figure out what major holidays are coming up, then plan a post around something that matches the vibe and feel of your creative endeavor.

57 days til Halloween! Spooky things! Horror movies!
79 days til Black Friday! Special deals!
112 days til Christmas!

You get the idea.

Or search “[genre] albums released in 2013” and find albums that are 10 years old (or 15, or 25).

Write about your favorite albums on your website, link to it from you social media platforms, and in your newsletter.

For example, ‘Surgical Steel’ from Carcass came out September 13, 2013.

Instead of just writing your homage to this epic album on Instagram, put it on your website instead.

Then, on September 13th, tell your followers on socials to read you post on your website (that’s what Loudwire will be doing).

Send the link to your email list, too.

You can do that with movies, books, shows you went to, albums you’ve released, and all sorts of various other milestones you’ve had in your career.

Now, when you sit down and write out these ideas, it makes your “content creation” a lot easier, and the job takes less time.

You’re not just throwing shit at the wall and hoping something sticks. Instead, you’re being deliberate.

You can take an hour a week, write some stuff, schedule it, and be done. DONE.

Then, since you’re putting out solid stuff, it just makes it easier for your audience to click, comment, react, and subscribe.

And it’s also how you keep from making social media your full time job.

Rick Rubin had quite a media tour a few months back, but it’s a quote from this 2014 interview that stuck with me:

“Everything was trying to make something cool to play for our friends that they would like.”

When you change this to “make something cool to post on social media,” you’re in trouble.

There’s a chance it might take off. But most likely most of your fans won’t even see it.

Social media algorithms are designed to limit your reach.

That’s why you should have an email list that your fans can subscribe to.

You can call email lists old fashioned, but so are vinyl records, and everyone who buys them online gets a receipt and shipping info delivered direct to their email inbox.

Send an email to your fans more than once a month. It’ll be okay, your fans signed up because they wanted to hear from you.

Instead of posting a funny meme on social media, message it to a friend.

Call a buddy and tell them you’re sending them something to check out.

Set up a Zoom call with your creative community and make art together (like my friend Robin does, every other Friday with her Creative Drop-In).

Make cool stuff, and show it to your friends without social media.

When you share your super cool DSP playlist placement on socials, you know like maybe just 2% of your audience sees it, right?

I’m not saying don’t share it on socials.

I’m saying you should also put it on your website.

Next week you might not be on that playlist, and then no one will even know you got such a cool placement.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Start a new post
2. Embed the audio player (here’s how with Spotify & Apple Music)
3. Make sure people know they can pre-order your new album, or buy a shirt, or see you on tour.

Once you’re done, send a newsletter and link to the news post.

Drive your fans to your platform, not a 3rd party site.

When you drive your fans to that cool playlist you’re on, they see this (as of Tuesday, August 29, 2023):

This is great for Asking Alexandria, Avenged Sevenfold, Corey Taylor, Nita Strauss… but, oh wait… you’re #62 on that list? Ooops.

And hey – if you’r a photographer, a writer, a crafter, an artist, whatever – this applies to you, too!

Own your wins. Keep a record of them. These wins are leverage to get more fans to your site and hopefully buy merch, your music, or tickets to your next show