Music has moved from just write–record–sell to include engage in the process of making music and reaping from it.
In this post, I share with you a few essentials that might go a long way to growing your name, promotions, and driving sales up for the music you put out.
Post consistently on social media. Emphasis on Twitter & Instagram (IG)
Facebook is by no doubt the most populated social media website in Ghana but it has its limitations.
One of these is its difficulty for accounts to follow trending issues across every page. You have to like or directly visit someone’s page to find out what is happening.
This is what Twitter and Instagram do best with the use of hashtags.
Most of your images and videos can go on Instagram with most of your text opinions and addresses going through Twitter. Don’t stop using Facebook!
Be part of the conversation (not every random conversation)
You can directly or indirectly take part in an ongoing conversation on social media.
If you know it will cause issues for you but you still need to be heard, don’t mention names. Just type it and post. The users will decipher for themselves.
Remember you are building and solidifying your brand so there will be no need to engage in every conversation like the numerous fights on those apps. Don’t take it personal.
Create artwork (or simply get pictures) to post on special occasions including occasions of national interest
Independence Day celebrations, Christmas, Ramadan etc. should be wished on your timeline. No need to always create graphic artworks for them.
You can use some pictures of yours which you think best suites the occasion.
You should have random polls that will engage your followers. Polls about maybe which song the like best, when to release a song, which video they love etc. should be done. Not on an everyday basis.
Having certain achievement marks will also engage them. Example is setting a mark of 10 retweets before you release a video or 10 likes to give out some exclusive news would help a lot.
There are certain accounts people value, get aligned with them
Your favourite radio presenter is big on Ghana radio, but on the streets of Ghana social media he is close to the average Ghanaian citizen.
As such, there are certain personal accounts that you should try to get that relationship with.
Including fellow young artists. You need them as much as they need you. There is no need to be friends with them before you can join in the conversation of wishing one happy birthday.
Get your materials to them to popular social media handles of websites through relationships
Mainstream media heavyweights might be the featherweights on social media. Twitter handles including Ghana Music (@GhanaMusic) are, presently, valued by young social media users.
These websites and social media pages get lots of impressions per month not because of the number of their followers but because of the number of stuffs they post concerning young, upcoming and new artists.
Retweet and repost fans messages(positive) directed at you (make people feel like insiders)
This act gives the fans that sense and feeling of being a part of you and how much you value their words. Not all messages can b replied.
Messages here don’t refer to DMs. They refer to post sent with your handle tagged in it.
Almost everyone is sarcastic don’t take negative comments personal, have fun with it.
- Use less hashtags on Twitter and don’t use all the 200+ characters. Twitter still is a short sentence platform with pics, videos and gifs.
- You can use all the hashtags you want to use on Instagram.
NB: Hashtags don’t work on Facebook. You can use it, but its effects are minimal.
Lastly
To get people talking,artists and labels need to give people a way to make themselves look good while promoting their music along the way.
There are three ways to do that:
(1) Find inner remarkability by doing something out of the ordinary.
(2) Leverage game mechanics by having random polls, and rewarding certain achievement marks, eg. Top Fan.
(3) Make your fans feel like insiders by giving them exclusives through communities, eg. Fans WhatsApp group.
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