This week kicks off with a guest post from Nick Lewis of Zimbalam, a European digital distribution company, giving solid tips around leveraging social media to build effective relationships with fans and influencers. Take it away, Nick…
A lot of bands make the mistake of treating their online and offline presence as completely separate entities, but actually, they should be used to complement each other. Bands that gig a lot tend to have the most Facebook fans, and also tend to sell the most music online.
Online marketing is at its best when it’s used as part of a wider strategy, especially when used to maintain relationships that would otherwise have been lost.
Promoting Your Online Presence Offline
The biggest part of social media marketing is building relationships with your fans. Of course you can build notoriety and establish a fanbase purely online by virtue of blog mentions and online PR, but your most readily available source of fans is gigs.
But think for a second, how many times have you seen a band at a gig that you really liked, but forgot about a few weeks later? That’s where your online presence kicks in, and why it’s essential to make sure people at your shows know where to find you on the internet. So:
- Put your Facebook/Twitter/website URL on all flyers and other promotional material where possible.
- Provide a clear incentive for people to look you up and subscribe (e.g. ‘Free download forall Facebook fans’.)
- Tell people about it over the mic. (No, it doesn’t damage your credibility, everyone’s doing it).