Our home base is a “link in bio” list of sites of other places where we rent space on DSPs, YouTube, and various social media platforms.

We’re just a bunch of kiosks at the mall, our vibes / vision / brand are stuffed inside a pre-built container hoping to get the attention of anyone walking by.

Yes, the kiosk is cheap and easy, and there’s the allure of all that foot traffic.

But a storefront / website gives you more creative space, more credibility, more flexibility and control.

Forget the “nobody even goes to websites anymore” garbage.

Imagine a big media outlet with a website wanted to cover your next video shoot.

They’d have a photographer on site, and a writer. Big web feature. Behind the scenes photos. Talk of the new album.

They put all those photos and text on their website.

They’ll post about your story on social media so everyone comes to their website.

Now you, the label, the publicist, and all the other sites link to their website, to find out about this new video and talk of your new album.

Yeah, or you can just do that yourself.

It might not be as pretty, or as grand, but what are you gonna do?

Wait around for a big outlet to cover you?

Spend hours posting every day on social media platforms that only let you reach 5% of your fans?

You’re already posting a dozen photos on Instagram from the video shoot, with 200 word captions.

PUT IT ON YOUR WEBSITE.

When people visit your website they can learn more about you:

• They can fall madly in love with you and your vision!
• They can watch your videos without seeing SUGGESTED VIDEOS from bands with much higher creative budgets than you!
• They can BUY YOUR MERCH, AND PRE-ORDER YOUR RECORDS.

Give your fans a reason to visit your website, because these social media platforms won’t be around forever.

In 2006 MySpace was the biggest music site in U.S.
In 2008 it was AOL Music (I know because I worked there, and we got foam “WE’RE #1” hands).

Neither are a blip on the radar today.

Own your space: set up a website today and control your brand.
Own your face: set up an email list today so you can speak directly to your fans.

See, people still visit websites.

Maybe not your website, but that’s because your website hasn’t been updated in four months and probably loads sideways on mobile.

But hey – websites are cheaper and easier to make than ever, and you don’t need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to band websites.

Seth, how does this relate to email lists?

Just like you don’t propose on a first date, you don’t usually get someone’s email address on the first visit either.

Especially if your website is boring.

Put some interesting stuff on your website, then eventually (hopefully) someone gives you their email address.

Load your site with exciting content like behind the scenes photos, stories from the road, a glimpse into the song-writing process.

You do know you’re already doing this right?

Those are all the things you share on social media every day that probably 90%+ of your followers never see (like how 94% of Fear Factory’s audience didn’t see their recent social media posts about an album anniversary).

Tease stuff on social media.
Put more of the exciting stuff on your website.
The stuff that fans won’t want to miss.
Let people sign up to get notified when you post new stuff.

As time rolls on, it will get harder to connect with your fans through social media.

Set up an email list. Repurpose your social media content. Send emails that people want to read. Send updates to your fans who are probably missing most everything you post on social media anyways.

Figure out your Social Media Escape Plan today, because these platforms can disappear tomorrow.

“Legacy blue checks will be removed soon,” tweeted Mr. Musk, “those are the ones that are truly corrupt.”

My friends, here’s a short list of the most notable names in metal with the “corrupt” legacy blue checks on Twitter:

Metallica, Iron Maiden, Slipknot, Testament, Black Sabbath, Metal Blade Records, Nuclear Blast Records, Metal Hammer, Exodus, Napalm Death, Behemoth, Cradle of Filth, Suffocation, Municipal Waste, Loudwire, Lamb Of God, Arch Enemy, Hatebreed, Earache Records, Revocation, Kreator, Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth (and Dave Mustaine), Guns N’ Roses, Mötley Crüe, Korn

So you’re telling me all these bands will start paying Twitter $8-11/mo for the joy of reaching 10% of their followers?

Ooooh, this is gonna get interesting!

Below I’m blasting SOCIAL MEDIA, not Fear Factory!

I could do this sort of surface-level reporting for almost every metal band out there, since social media is horrible for all of us, across the board.

That said, posting a notable anniversary on social media is fantastic way to drive engagement! Great idea!

Right?

Yikes.

Here’s the surface level breakdown:

• 780,300 total followers (Twitter + Facebook + Instagram)
• 45,600 views (across all three platforms)

That means 6% of their total social media audience saw these posts.

Which means 94% of their audience on social media had no idea about the 13th birthday of ‘Mechanize.’

That means 734,700 followers probably didn’t stream the album on a DSP, or watch this video on YouTube:

Again, not pointing fingers at Fear Factory – this is across the board, friends. We’re all in this same boat, and it’s filled with holes.

So start thinking about your Social Media Escape Plan, as it won’t get any easier (or cheaper) to reach your fans this year on any of the social media platforms.

Saw a Twitter prompt today asking about an album that changed my life, but rather than just reply there for 5% of my followers to see, I figured I’d repurpose that “content” and use it to illustrate a two points.

In my first band back in 1991, guitarist Tim Day gave me a dubbed copy of ‘Sailing the Seas of Cheese’ from Primus. As a bass player he figured I’d enjoy it, and wow, Les Claypool opened up a whole new world for this naive, young Seth, as a bass player, and as a person.

Years of playing and I somehow settled on this “one man oddity” known as Seth W. for a bit. I opened for metal bands, got hardcore kids singing along with goofy songs, and met a lot of amazing people that I’m still friends with (and work with) today.

What’s ANY of this got to do with Social Media Escape Club?!

1. Expand on your social media posts. Put your witty comments and interactions into newsletters and on websites, where they’ll last longer than a few hours.
2. Try new things. Starting a newsletter in 2023 might sound weird, but so does pouring hours per day into social media platforms that only let you reach 5% of your fans.

Sure, you can say, “but no one visits our website.”

Well, your website is a static page with a Bandsintown feed, a band photo that’s three years old, and still has links to MySpace.

Gee, I wonder why no one visits your website?

Start copying and pasting all that content you’re shoveling onto those VC-backed, corporate funded websites that don’t give a shit about your art, and build something of your own that will outlive ‘em all.

Step right up, friends, and pivot to YouTube Shorts!

From Feb. 1, YouTube is introducing a revenue scheme to its Shorts format, meaning eligible creators earn a 45% share of the revenue from the ads viewed around their Shorts videos, while YouTube retains the remaining 55%.

(Sure, YouTube isn’t really “social media,” except that it’s media, and everyone talks about it, so it’s pretty social)

Soon after this announcement, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said “YouTube Shorts has surpassed 50 billion daily views, up from 30 billion a year ago.”

YouTube says “qualifying channels can get between $100–$10,000 each month,” and note that, “Shorts views exclusively receive ad revenue sharing from the Shorts Feed, which is separate from long-form video monetization on the Watch Page.”

If you’re ready to compete with kids with 4K cameras, and way more time on their hands than you, check out YouTube’s ‘Create YouTube Shorts,’ and ‘YouTube Shorts monetization policies.’

ANTISOCIAL

➡️ “A House Republican on Thursday is introducing a bill to ban kids and teens under 16 from using social media,” reports the Washington Post, just as the Surgeon General says that 13 is too early to join social media. Oh, and a bill just passed the House in Utah requiring parental consent for minors on social media.

➡️ Elon said “Twitter will share ad revenue with creators for ads that appear in their reply threads,” but “To be eligible, the account must be a subscriber to Twitter Blue Verified.” Pay to play! Oh, and he wants to charge businesses $1,000 a month to keep their check marks.

YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ESCAPE PLAN

If the work we’re putting in a social media platform isn’t really working, then why keep doing it?

Think about reducing your time spent on social media without completely eliminating it.

Are all those hours staring at our phones worth it for the 14 “likes,” the 3.2% impressions, the 12 clicks?

Imagine if we took one day worth of social media scrolling (like 2+ hours), and instead spent that time on something else?

1. Learning how to edit videos (I recommend ScreenFlow on the Mac)
2. Writing new music (or finishing a year-old song)
3. Setting up a collaboration
4. Building a website (or buying a domain name)
5. Seeing how to build community via Discord, Substack, or Reddit

Don’t burn your social media platforms to the ground, but we can reclaim hours we’re investing in them to learn skills and strategies that will provide a bigger return down the road.

Use the emails you get from other industries as inspiration for your own newsletters.

For example, I got this email from Venmo recently:

The main point of the email was the video, but the links wasn’t to the video on YouTube – it was on the Venmo site.

You already know where I’m going with this.

When you drive someone to YOUR site, you control the branding, the vibe, the links, the experience.

When you drive someone to YouTube, your video is now competing with content that is algorithmically alluring to your fan! Oh no!

Your site can be set up to feature your upcoming tour dates, new products in your store, a pre-order package, or an email sign up link – all things that are buried under the “SHOW MORE” link in the YouTube description area.

Look, you command a room, and you command your narrative online.

So lead your fans.

Lead them to your website. Show them your newsletter.

Not all your fans hang out at the food court at the mall anymore, subsisting on a diet of pizza, smoothies, and chicken nugget outrage.

Social media is the food court at the mall, where your posts appear next to sports news and racist tirades, and the landlord keeps raising the rent.

It’s time to leave the food court at the mall.

Stop building your entire existence on rented property, and set up your own website + newsletter.

WEEKEND TASKS

Here’s four things you can do before Monday:

1. When’s the last time you cleaned your LINK IN BIO links?
2. Buy a domain name from Hover (that’s a referral link) and think about setting up (or updating) your website.
3. Make your own “pick one” images (like this one), and put it on your website. Have your band mates chime in and make it a whole feature – hey, it’s what all the music sites do, and people click on ‘em! Get ‘em clicking to your site instead and sell some albums.

4. Double check and make sure you set up 2FA for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, and just about every other service that is critical to your operation.

The biggest part of your Social Media Escape Plan is fighting for that direct connection with your fans.

Your fans followed you on social media for a reason, so don’t worry about coming off as annoying when asking for a pre-save, pre-order, to click a link, or sign up for your email list – most of your followers won’t see your post anyways!

1. Post often. Schedule those posts around the clock, especially when you’re not online – some of your fans are in different time zones!
2. Mix it up; make videos, vary your images, use screen shots, adjust your text, try some audio. Variety is the spice of life, so that must be true on socials.
3. Make your pitch compelling. Remember, you’re more exciting that $2 burritos.