In Part 1 of our social media tips for music producers and DJs we looked at having tidy profiles, snappy biographies and a defined strategy. Now we look at some of the biggest mistakes to avoid and a simple way to stay ahead of the pack…
3. Chat, don’t broadcast. It’s quite easy to simply shout about how great your last gig was or how amazing the new track is sounding. Anyone could write this stuff so it feels impersonal and quickly ends up sounding generic and annoying too. Better to engage in real conversations and save switching to ‘loudhailer mode’ only for genuinely important events.
4. Don’t break the rules Tempting as it may be to dramatically multiply your social media following, it’s rarely a smart move to cook the figures. Recent accusations that top EDM artists have been buying Facebook fans might be improbable, but you can be sure a few lesser known ones will have used such dodgy services. Aside from the dubious ethics, buying fans rarely leads to an increase in the kind of real, engaged and supportive fanbase that will actually further a career.
Likewise, harvesting ‘likes’ by forcing people to ‘like to win’ or ‘share to enter’ competitions is in direct breech of Facebook’s terms and conditions (even if you do see some big labels and artists pulling this trick regularly). Use apps for any Facebook promotions of this kind. They are very affordable and avoid the very real risk of all the work you’ve put into that Facebook page being shut down.
6. Read up on the latest developments regularly. Spending hours setting up a Google+ or Pinterest page might seem like being ‘ahead of the curve’ but are these profiles really right for your target audience at the moment? Will they be right in 2 months time? Social media moves so fast these days it’s easy to focus on the wrong thing, so keep an eye on sites like Mashable and indeed pointblank to help guide you through it. A few moments browsing on the bus might give you a social media insight that leads to hundreds of genuinely interested new fans.
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Editor’s Note: This is an old article and things have moved on considerably since the original publication date 🙂
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