5 Steps for Musicians to Dominate Facebook (or ANY Social Media)

1. Be Approachable

Being successful on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media outlet is a lot like being successful in a bar—If you want people to talk to you, you need to be approachable. Showing your "human side" will help. An easy way for musicians to do this is to post candid photos and videos of "non-music" activities.

Examples…

• your tour bus at a drive-thru window 
• your van on the side of the road with a flat tire 
• hanging out backstage 
• your 5-star hotel room 
• your 1-star hotel room

2. Give Value

Don’t just bombard people with marketing messages of where you’re playing, where your album is for sale, or requests to “vote” for you in some contest. Instead, let people know where they can get a free download of your music, where they can get photos of your current tour, or be part of your upcoming music video.

Here is a bumper sticker by children's artist Mr. Billy that does this well...

3. Start a Conversation

Social media isn’t a one-way street, so don’t just talk to people, talk with them. To do this:

• ask questions
• focus on interaction, not revenue

Another example from Mr. Billy...

4. Think Beyond Text

Break up text messages with audio and video. A picture is worth 1000 words.

5. Ask For It!

Don’t expect the person reading your message to read your mind also. If you want somebody to “like” it, respond to it, or share it with a friend, tell them!

And here is the bottom line about how to do it…

Give more of yourself, put the necessary time in, and make you communication "personal" by sharing aspects of your personal life. Doing these things, you have a great opportunity to stand out. If you’re not willing to do these things though, you have a better chance as ever of getting lost.

Comments

[Misterbilly]

All the promo items shown in the photos I got for FREE from www.vistaprint.com - FYI

[txz045]

I can dig it. Thanks for sharing.

[J. Black]

I certainly agree with this article. I certainly share my life unrelated to music and it ties in. Since I push Soulfully Delicious Contemporary R&B as my style I also share my recipes and cooking methods for Soulfully Delicious Recipes and post videos and pictures of my culinary creations. Great Blog David!

[Radarmusicvideo]

Nice, I like point one particularly

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1224161001]

One more thing -- on anything like gig advertisements (posters or local entertainment mags), and any of the "on-site" signs, you can add one of those new QR codes. They are all but ubiquitous, and anyone with a smart phone can grab a pic and jump right to any page you want them to on your website.

I don't work for these guys (it's free anyway), but I edit the Nashville Blues Society's printed newsletter, and I have added QR codes to ads, reviews and event listings. I found this site that generates free QR codes that you can download...

Go to http://qrcode.kaywa.com/
BTW, I found them by googling "QR Code Free" and got quite a few hits. Anyway, you can type in (better to copy and paste) a URL, text or phone number and they generate a code that you can save and add to your artwork. I DO suggest that you get it as large as you can, and convert from RGB to Black and White, and if you can adjust the contrast make the black as dark as you can and the white as white as possible (as opposed to dark gray on light gray, respectively)...

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1224161001]

Just as I hit enter, it hit me -- it doesn't HAVE to be your website. It can be (as -duh - the article's headline reads), your facebook page, the fB page of the venue or festival, it's your choice. Just gotta have a URL or SMS code to send them, and you're set!