Quick tip 118 Don’t try to be everywhere

When it comes to social media, I think it’s safe to say many of us musicians end up wasting a lot of time just trying to be engaging (or looking at funny cat videos…) Social media is a powerful tool, no doubt about that. It has changed the way us independent musician promote our music and reach new fans. But from time to time it is good to evaluate what works and what does not.

It can get bit crazy trying to figure out what’s the hot new platform to jump on. Sure there is value in getting into a new platform at an early stage, if you play your cards right. But still it is a bit of a lottery… I think more important is to pick your battles, and concentrate your efforts on the platforms your fans like to spend time on. Pick few social media sites you have had success with, and put effort and love into them. Rocking one social media site is much more powerful than making a half ass job on ten.

If you are a new artist with no fan base yet, where should you start? My first recommendation would be Twitter. There is organic quality to Twitter that is hard to find in other major platforms. The next on the list we need to have Facebook, you are almost expected to have a Facebook page, even though I have seen artists who do not even use their Facebook page succeed just fine. Building a following in Facebook will take little bit more work, and I am still questioning the return on that investment… The two other ones I would recommend are Instagram and Periscope. Instagram because there is power in photos, you can tell your story in a very powerful way. Also you can link your Instagram with Twitter and Facebook, and share your photos in three platforms just in one post. Periscope is the new player in town and the regular readers of my blog know I am a fan. Periscope allows you to broadcast live videos from your mobile phone. Periscope is also linked with Twitter.

But the above is just my recommendations. The social media should help you to tell your story, so experiment and find out which of them help you to do just that. And concentrate on the ones that work, instead of trying to be on all of them.

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE