Managing Your Band’s Digital Identity
The best way to find new fans of your band is still online. Though “online” is a lot more confusing than it used to be. While having well done web page design is a great place to start, you also need have a cutting-edge social media campaign, give fans access to your music via streaming services, as well generate hype from respected music blogs.
Website
The website is still the backbone of your band’s digital identity. If someone googles your band, your webpage is still where they will be directed. This is a great way to set the tone and style of your group. It can also act as a hub for all your other accounts. Your band’s website should feature the music first. Most people coming to your site will be there to hear you band. You can save promo, tour dates, merchandise, and branding for subpages but be sure you have one-click access to hear you band on the homepage. A website can serve as the ultimate source for merchandise, which is a huge revenue stream for you band. Legendary acts like the Ramones financed lengthy music careers through merchandise and that was in the days before the internet, so imagine what your band can do with a finely tuned website.
Be Personal
Using social media is one of the best ways to manage you band’s digital identity. One tip for having success with social media is to keep it personal. You don’t want your Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook to sound like it is being written by a PR agency. Fans can tell a personal voice from that of a paid agency, so expect them to be able to tell if you are being sincere. While you don’t want to over share details, you don’t want to use your social media account to let fans get to the members of your band, the music, and what’s going on behind the scenes. Social media allows you to share these details in an organic and natural way. Long gone are the days of forced and fake PR band sheets. In the new age of music distribution social media is the best way to connect with you fans, to let them know what’s going on, what projects your band is working on, where you are playing, on how they can get involved. Be sure to allow ways for fans to engage with your band through social media, ask for feedback from gigs, ask where to play next, or even take requests for tracks for your next set. Remember, you are building a personal relationship with your fans through social media and keep this in mind when managing your band’s digital identity.
Having a strong homepage is a great starting point for your band’s digital identify. Once you have a solid website, start growing your social media presence through quality posts with personal tone that makes fans feel like they are connecting directly with your band. Of course the music is the most important part of you band but a strong online identify can be crucial it sharing your music with millions of online listeners.
