Music Specific "Guide To Social Media"
With the pace of internet-things-happening, who can keep up with the dozens of social networks required? And which are specific to musicians?
Do I really have to...?
Making music is challenging enough. With the pace of internet-things-happening, who can keep up with the dozens of social networks required? And which are specific to musicians? Wouldn’t it be great to find some musicians and just ask them?
We have research that did just that. It is called "How does online content go viral and what is its relevance in the music industry?" The bottom line is 5% of operating musicians rely solely on traditional media for marketing. The rest? You guessed it. Social media.
This means social media is here to stay in music promotion. Our estimate is professional musicians manage about twelve different social networks. Ouch! We are going to list which really matter based on this research. So you can prioritise.
Social media is here to stay in music promotion
Social media carries the weight of the musicians’ promotion (70%-90%) and is ranked as extremely important by musicians. Don’t misunderstand and discount traditional media for what it is good for. Social media does not replace traditional media, as 80% of musicians use a combination of the two. But traditional doesn’t replace social media either as is clearly demonstrated.
What musicians’ value most about the social media platforms is the ability to build an audience and connect with fans. Other values come secondary and include providing data, marketing stuff and "the illusion of success is important to record companies according to managers" (granted, was presented as a joke by a research participant but has merits).
Musicians’ guide to the most relevant social networks
1) Facebook still dominates as the most useful tool for musicians and ranks highest by a mile
2) YouTube comes next
3) Then there are music services: SoundCloud (early stages), iTunes (pros) and to lesser extent Spotify
4) Twitter & Instagram become increasingly important as the musician becomes more established.
Tumblr is a weird one, as it doesn’t hold general appeal but those who use it are obsessed with it
5) At this stage you should probably have your own website
6) Don’t worry about Pinterest or Google Plus
There’s some heat in the office about number 6. Can they really be overlooked?
Do you use google plus and pinterest? What’s your experience? We want to know.
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Originally posted here
Cover image credit: Visualizing Fiendships