5 Worst Pieces Of Social Media Advice Musicians Should Ignore
Earlier this year Ellie Mirman wrote a great post for HubSpot on "30 Terrible Pieces of Social Media Advice You Should Ignore." The post takes somewhat of a corporate focus but the applicable points are pretty obvious. I've pulled out five pieces of advice that seem particularly relevant to marketing music and musicians whatever your role in that process.
Solveig Whittle introduced me to Mirman's post when I requested her input for my recent piece on the power of single social networks. I wrote that, in part, to address the fact that DIY and indie musicians are often given one size fits all advice regarding their presence on social media.
However, I should make it clear that most of the nutty advice I see on the web is not from music marketers or music bloggers but from or for corporate settings where it's really a lot easier to pass yourself off as something you're not.
The following points from "30 Terrible Pieces of Social Media Advice You Should Ignore" struck me as particularly relevant to musicians and music marketers but you may find other points in the article more appropriate to your situation.
5 Worst Pieces Of Social Media Advice Musicians Should Ignore
1) You need to be on every single social network.
"Especially if you have limited time and resources, don’t spread yourself too thin by trying to maintain an active presence on every single social media site…If your audience isn't there, don't waste your time."
2) The more you publish, and the more sites you’re on, the better.
"Simply having a presence on multiple sites and spraying your content as much as possible won't work…Unfortunately, people are getting overwhelmed with more and more content. This means the bar for remarkable content is starting to rise, and to be successful, you need to make sure your content reaches that high bar."
3) An intern can manage it all for you.
"Who’s even less qualified to talk about your industry than an outsourced social media consultant? A college student with no real-world work experience…The point we're trying to make here is that social media is not just some throw-away marketing strategy; it’s a public face of the company."
4) Fan/follower growth is the most important metric.
"Followers are nice, but they don’t actually pay you money or keep you in business. Instead, think about what matters most to your business — leads, customers, etc. — and focus on that as your top priority metric."
5) You should post X updates per day.
"This unfortunately comes from a misinterpretation of HubSpot's own data…But this data shows results in aggregate, based on frequency and timing of posts from a large number of accounts. So test the timing and frequency of your social media updates with your own audience, because that’s what you should care about — the results with your specific audience."
At the end of the day, you have to take into account the specifics of your own situation and recognize that one size is unlikely to fit all.
["Advice" thumbnail courtesy Laughlin Elkind.]
More: Alex Day and Solveig Whittle On The Power Of Focusing On A Single Social Network
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch/@crowdfundingm) also blogs at Flux Research and Crowdfunding For Musicians. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
Clyde,
Great article mate. I completely agree that musicians are often fed a one size fits all solution, and this isn’t just with managing social media.
I really like you’re first piece of advice.
“1) You need to be on every single social network.”
It is folly to try to be everywhere all at once. Not only because of how many networks there are but because each one takes more commitment then most are aware of in order to make any headway.
I like to try to focus on one network until I have it perfected before I move to another.
Just like if musicians want to put out regular content for their audience. They shouldn’t go ahead and try to do it on every platform available to them at once, instead focus on dominating one platform first eg:youtube. Before they move to others like facebook. Because it isn’t just about throwing something up there and then saying ‘Hey I’m on social media’ then never think about it again, it is about interaction and engaging with your audience 100%.
-Adam
The Gemini Project.
Completely agree with the first post, too many musicians are just everywhere, completely missing the focus on their main target audiences!
Most of the points I agree with but not so much with this one:
4) Fan/follower growth is the most important metric.
“Followers are nice, but they don’t actually pay you money or keep you in business. Instead, think about what matters most to your business — leads, customers, etc. — and focus on that as your top priority metric.”
For social media for music, I do think the fan metric is very important. All musicians need personal i.e. social contact with their fans. And the fans are your customers. right? Sure you need to take care of business, publishers, venues, etc. but Facebook and other social media isn’t really the best for that, nor was social media designed for that.
They’re not talking about actual fans for your music.
The post from which I took these was more designed for corporate users and they’re using the term fan in a similar way as follower.
I probably shouldn’t have quoted the term fan since it’s a bit confusing in this case.
I love this article and I agree with the points you have listed.
I love the first point. I don’t see why musicians or anyone at all should be on every single social media network. How will you update these social sites on a regular basis?
I have received emails from a number of college students saying that they are willing to give me a low offer if I allow them to be my social media marketing manager. I tell you it sounds good, but I think they should focus more on their academics.
Having a lot of fans on Facebook or twitter is a good thing. However, most of them are just there to gossip, having no intention of paying for any of your services or products.
Thanks for sharing this article, I really enjoy reading it.
All the best!