There’s no getting around it, social media is now a huge part of our lives, and not only that, how the world perceives us. The last thing we want is to look lame, incompetent, or even worse, just have no one see us at all!
But how can you supercharge your social media presence?
Social media can be a very polarising medium. Whilst you might feel you are trudging along feeling overwhelmed, not knowing what to post, let alone where, and even if you did know those things, no one is listening, whilst you look at all the comments, likes and love other people are getting around you, and not knowing why?!
I am someone who has been in the pits of despair with social media, feeling like a failure, not having any followers, any eyeballs, and every time I would open an app, the lack of likes or comments just solidified to me that I was useless, and not good enough for anyone.
As time went on, and I delved more into social media, I realized that actually, it wasn’t me inherently that was the problem, it was my understanding of what the platforms were FOR! Once I understood that things took off in a big way, and since then I see social media as one of the most important parts of my success in the music industry.
I’m going to share with you how I think about social media, and how that has taken away overwhelm, and actually made it a fun part of my life!
Before we start asking questions, I want to give you a bit of a mindset shift I experienced. Try seeing social media as part of someone’s journey getting to know you, working with you or booking you on a gig. It’s almost an indirect marketing platform (or maybe a very direct platform sometimes!) that builds trust with your audience but needs a final destination in mind that is like the finish line you want them to get to.
Why?
The first and most important question to ask yourself before you go any further is WHY?! Why are you posting to social media? Posting to document your life generally has a very different outcome to say promoting yourself as a musician, your business in the studio, or as a teacher. Whatever that reason, make sure it aligns with your ‘final destination’ (not the film) website. An obvious tangible ‘finish line’ result would be someone visiting your website and taking an action such as reaching out for a quote, booking in for a lesson or buying a product.
Who?
Is this just for family or friends to see, or is this to gain new followers and fans, more work opportunities or something completely different? Always have your ideal audience member in mind.
Where?
Where are your ideal audience hanging out? If you have a beginner’s teaching course, then somewhere like TikTok may be better to have a presence on than Twitter for instance. Equally a visual platform like YouTube would be better for being booked on live shows than say posting a blog.
Bonus tip – don’t stick to just one platform or type of content, as the more seeds that are sown will produce more results, however, have a main platform you concentrate on that is easily searchable or ‘evergreen’ meaning it can keep giving you eyeballs long past the date you post it.
Evergreen/Searchable platforms would be:
- YouTube
- Blogs
More temporary platforms (that should link to your evergreen content or ‘finish line’) would be:
- TikTok
What?
Here’s the crux of it! What should you be posting? Well with these 3 previous questions answered, think about what would either be entertaining, educational or inspiring for your audience. Don’t be afraid to give away information for free, as gatekeeping is the quickest way to turn people off. Be generous, be kind. Also feel free in the fact that platforms like Instagram are very transient and disposable, people swipe past your posts, they’ll like them, or not, but either way, they probably won’t give it another thought after that second. This means it is a great playground to try stuff, experiment, see what works, and what doesn’t, and transfer your findings into evergreen content that people can find over and over again!
How?
Just start! I find that moving the focus from external validation to internal really helps me, so I say to myself, ‘I’m going to post every day for a month with x theme in my posts no matter what’ to get a good read on how effective it is and how many eyeballs I get, and more importantly how many people come to my own ‘finish line’ from that content. I then readjust and do more of it, but I don’t let the numbers phase me as it’s about the quality of my audience, not the quantity. If 10 people see a post of yours, and 10 people get in touch about working with you, that’s much better than 10,000 people seeing you and no-one reaching out.
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