How to Promote and Grow Your Music Fan Base In 2018

Trying to make it in music isn’t easy. You will have a great deal of competition regardless of how far you make it. Making great music will only get you so far, as in today’s market you also need to be savvy about how you handle your fan interaction. Interacting more with your fans will help you build your relationship with them which translates to increased loyalty towards you or your band.

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The way that artists promote their music and grow their fanbase has changed a great deal over the last decades. Obviously, the advent of the internet completely changed the way that we promote everything, from music to chocolate. Promoting your music the right way will score you a whole lot of easy and cheap (in some cases free) ways of interacting with, marketing to, and expanding the number of the people who visit webpages related to your music.

Here are some ideas to get budding promoters and musicians alike to start thinking about how they can most efficiently grow their fanbase.

Merchandising

Merchandising is now cheaper than ever, both for fans and for musicians. However, there is still plenty of money to be made here. There was a time when a musician would have to invest significantly to get a box of CDs to try and sell, and now there are CD manufacturing companies who can take on much of this process and bring your costs way down.

Social Media

Social media is the way that most people now interact directly with individuals and groups, whether they are musicians or businesses. They have been very effective tools from a marketing and customer service perspective. There is something of an exodus currently underway on Facebook, with younger users now migrating away from a platform that they associate with their parents, although it is still relevant and you should include it in any social media strategy.

Provide Worthwhile Content

When you are creating your band’s social media profile, think about how each platform is best served and who is best equipped to utilize it to its fullest extent. For example, Twitter is largely text-based, whereas Instagram revolves around photos, so your best writer should take on Twitter, while a photographer should deal with Instagram. Growing your fanbase on social media will require that you stay active and post stuff worth posting. Your followers will share things that they like, and you will gain exposure.

Keep Gigging!

The internet is a great way of promoting your music. Whether you are a solo artist, a singer-songwriter, or part of a band, it is now trivially easy to get your music online and start putting it in front of potential listeners. However, getting out there and playing your music live in front of people still remains the best way of building a loyal following. It is at gigs that people will get to, not just to listen, but actually experience your music. This has a much more powerful impact.

Growing your music fan base requires work, you can’t sit back and expect fans to come to you. Get out there, both in the real world, and in the digital space.