The internet has opened up many new possibilities for bands looking to promote themselves, but it can also be a bit daunting to know where to start. There are plenty of platforms out there, all claiming to be the best choice for music marketing, so which one should you go for? If you’re looking to expand your reach beyond your local area, consider the following tips before you launch into any costly or time-consuming marketing plan.
Set Up A Twitter
Having a strong online presence is now more important than ever, and the internet has made it much easier for bands to get noticed. One of the best ways to do this is through social media. Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms among musicians, and it’s a great place to connect with other musicians, promoters, and industry figures.
If you’re planning on using social media to promote your band, start by setting up a Twitter account. You can use a free service like Hootsuite to help you get the most out of your Twitter account. With Hootsuite, you can set up automated tweets using a service like Flow.ai. This will ensure that you always have new content to promote on your Twitter account, even if you’re a little dormant. Just make sure that you keep up with the occasional tweet so that your followers know you’re still active!
Pick A Name
Naming your band is a challenging task, especially if you’re going for a unique and memorable moniker. There are plenty of artists out there with the same name as yours, so you’ll need to come up with a way to differentiate yourself from the rest. One option is to pick a name that’s associated with a well-known brand or commodity.
For example, Imagine if you were to name your band after one of the most popular fast-food chains in the US. Now imagine having to search for your band online, or worse, having a customer call you out on the name. Not only is fast food hardly ever associated with an artistic endeavor, it’s also a bit of a mouthful when pronounced. Instead of fast food, why not name your band taco bell or pizza hut?
On the other hand, there’s always Tesla. Just make sure that you don’t put a period at the end of the name or it won’t be different enough to be unique. If you don’t own a car, then there are plenty of other brands that you could choose. Instead of Tesla, why not opt for Nokia or even Apple? These are much easier to say and, more importantly, much easier to find online.
Make Sure Your Website Looks Different
Now that you have a Twitter account set up and are starting to build an audience there, it’s time to start working on your website. Your website is the online version of your band’s social media accounts – it’s where you’ll post the aforementioned tweets, along with other content that you might want to feature on your site. For the sake of this article, we’ll assume that you have a basic website with a handful of pages and a blog.
It’s important to make sure that your website looks different from other websites – even other music websites. Designing a unique look for your site might be a bit challenging, but it’ll be worth it in the end. A simple way to do this is to add a bit of color. If you’re using a plain black background, then add a pop of red or orange to give it that extra touch of personality.
Use Social Media To Build Relationships
This is a crucial point that many musicians forget about. While social media provides you with a great connection to fans, it also provides you with the opportunity to connect with other musicians and industry figures. This might mean getting a shout out on a song, playing a live session for someone’s YouTube channel, or getting a musician to perform at your show. All of this, however, requires a bit of effort.
If you want to achieve your full potential as a musician, it’s important to start building relationships with other musicians and industry figures. A great way to do this is through social media. It might seem obvious, but don’t forget about this crucial point. Even if you choose the perfect name for your band, picked out the perfect logo, and designed a gorgeous website, if you don’t connect with the right audience then it’s all been for nothing. This point cannot be stressed enough.
Find Keywords
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll have noticed that I’ve been talking about keywords a lot in this article. Keywords are essentially what people type into search engines to find your content. If you want your content to be found, then you’ll need to start incorporating keywords into your content.
For example, if you’re writing about a certain band and you start off with the word “band”, your article is probably not going to be found by anyone using traditional search engines. You might, however, discover that a lot of your audience is searching for bands, so you can incorporate this focus group into your content to reach your full potential. If this is the case, make sure to include terms such as “best guitar bands”, “greatest guitarists”, “hottest new bands”, or even just “guitarists”.
The point is that you want to target the right audience for your content. If you don’t know what keywords are, then you might not be reaching your full potential as a musician. Luckily, Google Keyword Planner can help you find the right keywords without the need for extensive experience. Just type in your topic into the search bar, and hit enter. You’ll then see a list of suggested keywords and phrases at the top of the page. Just type in your own keywords and see how it ranks.
When choosing your keywords, make sure that they’re relevant to your content. If you’re not sure, then ask a friend or family member who knows the topic well to help you choose the right words. Don’t worry too much about using a lot of keywords – you’ll find that with a little bit of creativity, you can make your content quite searchable. Just make sure that you choose the right ones.
Add More Videos
Videos are an excellent way to promote your band. They can be used to introduce yourself to new listeners, give potential fans a glimpse of your live shows, or even just be a fun way to engage with your audience. Videos can also be used to showcase your logo or the name of your band in a fun and creative way.
Adding more videos to your site is a great way to expand your audience and increase your reach. You can include anything from a brief introduction to your band to playing some of your favorite songs. There are plenty of royalty-free stock videos you can use for free on YouTube, so there’s no excuse not to add more!
Guest Blogging Is A Great Way To Promote Yourself
If you have a fairly large and passionate following on social media, then you might want to consider guest blogging for other sites. Guest blogging for other sites means that you’ll write an article related to music business for someone else’s blog. The great thing about this is that you’re able to leverage your existing social media following to get the word out about your blog article.
For example, let’s say your band has a Twitter account with 400 followers, and you’ve been guest blogging on a fashion blog with a following of 150,000. In this case, you can potentially reach a quarter of a million people with your guest blogging alone! This is a great way to get the word out about your band, and earn some money off the back of it. Just remember that while this is a great way to promote your band, you should only do so in a strategic way.
Curate An Eventual Live Album
An album isn’t exactly something that comes along with every single experience you have in life. Sure, you might have a couple of favorites floating around in your head, but mostly, albums are a way of life for musicians. The type of album you make depends on where you are in life at the time – if you’re just starting out, then it might be a good idea to focus on building your portfolio of songs, and adding more value to your music as a whole.
If you’re looking to create an album, then you might want to start by thinking about what would make it unique. Maybe you want to explore a specific time in your life and the events that shaped you into the person you are today. Or, perhaps you want to focus on a specific story, such as the inspiration for your first song. Whatever the reason may be, make sure that it’s something that no one else can ever replicate.