5 Fanbase Building Tips From The Great Escape
Hypebot's previously posted insights from The Great Escape convention with advice for indie labels and a reminder of the importance of email lists for fan relations. Another panel offered unique tips for building your fanbase that get a bit more nuanced than the typical advice on offer. They include pointers for finding your own approach to social networks, capturing fan data and improving your email game.
I've previously written about indie label advice from The Great Escape based on CMU coverage. The Unsigned Guide also covered the biz convention aspects of the festival with two posts (via @Buzzsonic):
Top tips for the DIY musician from The Great Escape:
Part 1 and Part 2
The first of these two posts includes notes from a fanbase building panel featuring speakers from Absolute Marketing and Music Glue. The notes include basic solid advice along with some more nuanced tips.
5 Fanbase Building Tips
1) "Social media platforms are ideal for building your fanbase but it is not essential to have presence on every single one."
"Find a few that suit your band best and just concentrate on those, rather than spreading yourself too thinly. A motto picked up from a marketing panel earlier on at The Great Escape was ‘Content is King, but Consistency is Queen’ and this rings true for your social media activity."
2) "If social media does not come naturally to you or you feel you have nothing to talk about, then it’s probably best to wait until you’re ready."
"Sparse profiles and old posts and tweets probably do you less favours than if there was nothing there at all, so put some thought into the content and time it will take before you over-commit."
3) "From the outset it is important to make sure you capture your fan data."
"Whether you’re selling CDs, t-shirts or giving away free downloads, you need to keep a log of who these people are, where they are and get their email address so you can keep in touch about forthcoming gigs, releases and merch for sale. "
4) "Another top tip if you’re communicating to your fans via email is to sign up to other newsletters to see how they look and present the info they want."
"You will get an idea of what works, what you would want to see and this will generate ideas."
5) "Don’t push every single gig you have booked; think about the one gig which would benefit most from getting your fanbase behind you and plenty of folks through the door and concentrate on that."
"A gig with a reputable promoter who you’re keen to impress will benefit much more from having 50-100 fans in attendance, than fans being spread across 5 gigs that aren’t as important to you."
Check out Part 1 and Part 2 for more.
More:
- Indie Label Advice From The Great Escape 2014
- Don't Ignore Your Email List, Say Fan Engagement Experts
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch) also blogs at DanceLand. Send news about music tech startups and services, DIY music biz and music marketing to: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
