Category: Social MediaCategory: Social Media

If you’re posting updates on Twitter exclusively, well, not all your fans are on Twitter.

Not all your fans are on Instagram.

Not all your fans spends three hours a night scrolling TikTok.

Lots of your fans check email, though.

• Prospective employers email them when they get the job.
• Banks email them when the direct deposit clears.
• Merch companies send them tracking info when their vinyl ships.
• Ticket companies email them receipts to your shows.

Everyone’s checking email.

Remember, social media employees want to stay employed. They get raises and promotions by keeping you on their platforms.

Writes Sara Eckel:

“Social media companies don’t want you to go out and have fun with your friends—they want you to look at pictures of your friends having fun without you.”

I remember a conversation I had with a show promoter years ago. They weren’t able to reach everybody with their Facebook Events like they used to, and they wanted my advice.

I told them to start an email list. Our phone call ended soon after.

Meanwhile, Sprout Social (one of the biggest social media management platforms out there) has said “brands see a median engagement rate of 0.064% across all industries” on Facebook.

Not even 1%, hell, not even 0.1%.

That’s 0.064% that can be bothered to click “LIKE.”

So yes, you can say “I’m just gonna stick to posting on Twitter and Facebook, show up or don’t.”

But think of who can’t even show up because they don’t have an account on either platform.

Update your website.
Send out a newsletter.

Every time a band makes a tour announcement, the replies pour in:

What, no Louisville?
Skipping Columbus again?
Come to Brazil!
East coast tour?

But every artist, band, and performer is making a deal; on this night, we’re playing this venue in this city.

Show up or don’t.

I believe the same to be true online.

Build a website and a newsletter. That’s your venue and city.

Then you drive traffic to both with one or two social media “billboards.”

Put on a great show.
Make a great product.
Offer a great deal.
Maintain a great website.

They show up or they don’t.

We’re quick to post our biggest moments on social media.

The “SOLD OUT” marquees. Massive crowds from stage. The plaques. Photos with our heroes and fans and friends.

We take photos of ourselves standing in Times Square with that big Spotify digital ad in the background.

We’ll share those slick DSP images on social media, showing off our placement on a cool playlist (like mine, below).

It’s the same even if you’re not in a band: we post all our most interesting photos, the imagery that shows off our unique, creative spirit, the videos that capture our spontaneous, magical energy.

We won’t put any of those cool images on our website, then complain that nobody goes to our website.

Don’t spend all your effort on the “billboard,” then neglect your own establishment.

Playlist placements are amazing. All that hard work. The songwriting. The recording. Years on the road.

All posted on platforms we don’t own, just so 10% of our social media followers can see it.

“All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.”

I’ll keep repeating this – your fans don’t see all your posts.

And you have fans that aren’t even on social media.

But every smartphone comes with a web browser and a pre-installed email app.

Update your website.
Work on your email list.

You should listen to Cody Cook-Parrott talk about how vital an email list can be to your creative work, and then marketing your work.

Cody says to use social media, of course. Use the tools that are available to you.

But I love saying that you should use social media like a billboard (h/t Dino Corvino), pointing your fans to your website, where you own your content, and where you can get people on your email list.

“Tech companies make money each time we view an ad, and each time we provide them with sellable data via our clicks and swipes,” says Sara Eckel.

Every live photo we upload.
Every song snippet.
Every tour announcement.
Every behind-the-scenes video.

Every bit of “content” we upload in the hopes of reaching our fans is being monetized by Elon and Zuck, all while they throttle reach and charge us money to reach a small percentage of your followers.

Time to formulate your SOCIAL MEDIA ESCAPE PLAN.

If you’ve posted an update on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, you can send an email to your fans.

If you’ve written an email to a friend, a co-worker, a family member, a prospective client, a label, a photographer, an art director… you can do the same with your supporters / customers / audience.

1. Write a subject line.
2. Include a photo at the top (like a social media post).
3. Write a bit.
4. Maybe write some more.
5. Include a link to your store, your website, the big important place on the internet that you call home.
6. Wait an hour. Or a day.
7. Come back, make some edits.
8. Hit send.

With each email, you’ll get a little “better.”

Week after week, you’ll find a rhythm.

Just like with each song your write, or each product your release, or each photo you take, you get a little better each time.

This week; use social media like a billboard, while you still can, and direct your followers to your website, and onto your email list (here’s ‘25 things you can post to get people to subscribe’).

Get your fans where you can reach them directly, without playing the algorithmic chess game.

“There’s nothing that drives book sales like email. It’s a direct line of connection to your most passionate supporters”

Yeah, I know it says “book sales,” but almost every idea and principle from this Substack article can apply to whatever you’re promoting, including albums, shirts, concert tickets, workshops, and more.

Because social media ain’t gonna make it any easier to reach your fans in the second half of 2023.

Got a big release lined up for August or September?

Start working on that email list TODAY.