I encourage questions via the Noob Underground form to help expand on this article. If you think there’s something I should cover that’s not already here or to be more specific about a portion of a platform then get in touch.
This article should give you some idea of where to promote your music, the best times of the day to do so and how to best present your content according to the platform.
It’s a lot of work but so is writing and recording an album, a lot of bands slack it when it comes to the final part of the process: promotion. I also recommend hiring PR because a hands on PR firm will do a lot of this stuff for you or increase the effectiveness of your self promotion by giving boosts to your posts via sharing them as well as acting as an aggregate of all the coverage you get.
Anyway, here’s what I can tell you to improve your game either way.
General Tips
General tips:
GOOGLE SHIT. For real, most of anything you want to do can be found with the right google terms. Maybe not broad strokes but if you google how to use specific parts of an app you’ll surely find info, if you google best times for posting per app you’ll find that too. Think specific and increase your resources instantly.
Timing is everything no matter where you are posting to. Figure out where you want to target, some days you’ll want to post locally and others you might feel the want to penetrate the American or European market. Find out the local times of the areas you want to target and compare them to the most popular posting times for each platform. Typically on a weekday the prime posting times are 5am – 9am and 6pm – 10pm. I mostly target Australia and America depending on the content. You can google the most popular time for each platform to get an idea and then shape it around the local time of the area you want.
Promote your whole local scene. Don’t just use your social media to promote your own work, use it to also promote your peers and create a supportive space where you are likely to share a fanbase and thus obtain mutual likes from each others following. This works best with other local bands and bands you’re gigging with. Besides, if your peers strike it big from your hometown and you’re friends with them, there’s a connection right there that may be beneficial to achieving your goals.
Create your own content that will engage your following according to their interests whether it be writing based (Facebook) or more image based like collages (Instagram, Twitter). Since they are interested in you, they would likely also be interested in music similar your band, a good tactic is to write about your influences and post your opinions on current releases within the genre. This will give your following a reason to stick around and engage, if you’re only promoting your own wares then there doesn’t feel like there’s a connection. This is important, create content that is outside of your own work but connects to it.
Get good artwork. This is key in the digital age, it’s always going to be the first impression and on average music with good art has a higher quality. Show that you care about every aspect of your product. People share pretty or badass images, it’s most of Instagram and Twitter these days. If you’re ever in need of artwork Noob Heavy has a growing resource here of commissioning artists on IG but you can also reach out to the social media accounts for Noob Heavy for additional artists info or according to your needs. I often do this for PR clients and I am involved quite heavily in promoting the art side of metal and thus have a following of such artists.
Be on all the socials. As a band your core goal is to channel people into your bandcamp or spotify links. Be on all three major platforms, it doesn’t matter if some aren’t going that well because anything is better than nothing and you will increase your odds of being shared by being available anywhere. Once one starts building or the music platform algorithm gives you exposure, they will naturally come to support you on their preferred platforms. Blogs and fans of your music will tag you if you’re there and their friends will probably follow you but you have to be there. People aren’t going to leave their preferred platform to join yours. Be flexible.
Have the same username across all platforms. I cannot stress this enough because many people may desire to share you on all platforms and this makes it easier for you to be found.
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