 5 Common Social Media Issues Musicians Face … And the Solutions.
Social media has the tendency to be difficult to keep up with. This is exquisitely the case for musicians. However, it doesn’t have to be like this. This article will explore 5 common social media issues musicians face—and the solutions. Problem: Social media platforms can be a distraction. Too much time spent on social media disallows musicians from the crucial task at hand: Curating or playing music. The wasted time you spent on your phone scrolling through short videos or discovering what friends are doing on the platform is valuable time that could be spent writing and recording music. It’s incredibly easy to allow social media to pull you away from what’s important—and over the course of an extended period—leave musicians behind. New archetype: Shift the relationship you have with social media. Make it a focus to put more into social media—and get more from it in return—than it takes away from you. Ensure you are always posting your musical content before comparing yourself to another creator’s work. You should certainly spend more time interacting with your fans and followers than mindlessly scrolling. Discover which aspects of your content people are connecting with before engaging other user’s posts. Social media is exactly that: social. Much like a great conversation or encounter at a party, you must give as much as everyone else there or more to receive something worthwhile back. Or else you are the wallflower using up all the social oxygen but gasping for air. Problem: I’m unable to stay up to date on social media. Vine. Snapchat. TikTok. What’s the next social media platform to blow up? Every single new platform comes with its own individual set of guidelines, learning curve, account management, passwords, and more. How does a musician who isn’t a social media guru stay up to speed? New archetype: Don’t freestyle. Stick to what you know and are skilled at. I don’t mean to demoralize you from attempting new methods. If you’re ready to get started, then by all means you should go for it! Although, if you’ve been sharing concert pictures on Instagram and your followers enjoy them, don’t quit posting to Instagram altogether and switch over to the next TikTok. Contrarily, you may dabble with a new social channel while you continue to manage and facilitate your fan base on Instagram. You could even consider evolving your Instagram feed to include Reels or Stories to further connect with your current follower base. When it comes to social media, it isn’t a game of one or the other. It’s what comes next. Problem: Social media isn’t going to construct my career. Unfortunately, you aren’t Lady Gaga. With this in mind, what is it that social media can do for you? It’s easy to think unless you have engagement numbers at superstar levels, it is not going to aid in the construction of your music career. New archetype: Don’t fake it until you make it. Allow you to be authentic you. Big-time artists who have the ability to initiate large-scale TikTok campaigns to promote their content aren’t getting it done all themselves, although it may seem like it. They use their public relations and social media teams to calculate all aspects of their social campaigns. It goes without saying an independent artist like yourself doesn’t have a team to create, post, advertise, and amplify social content for you. You should not view this in a negative light. Rather, you should see it as an advantage because if you make and post content on your own, your followers recognize it and enjoy that your social media mouthpiece is your own. Ensure the videos and other content you post on social are uniquely you. Don’t attempt to be anyone but yourself. Your followers will see through it and hold it against you. Don’t forget: Your followers engage with you because they like you. Problem: My mental health is jeopardized by being online. Numerous studies have found large amounts of time spent on social media platforms posting content and absorbing it deters stable mental health. This is the intrinsic reality for musicians. The ever-present stress of needing to create original content—and the reaction of negative replies therein—can burden users with unavoidable stress. New archetype: Gain perspective and realize social media is not your everything. A sizable portion of social media’s grip on mental health comes from the notion that it is inherently social. We are social animals, and we compare ourselves to others to calculate where and how we stack up. It’s the reason we use social media to post articles of content and receive feedback by way of likes, comments, heart icons, and other social representations. The reality: At its core, social media isn’t truly as “social” as we make it out to be. It’s a more hyper realized version of the regular world because it gives users the ability to wear a mask and stand behind their social personas instead of their real ones. People are more inclined to act as mean girls online than they are in real life due to there being few or no consequences for being anti-social or negative online. This is why it’s absolutely crucial not to take social media at face value. See it for what it is: An artificial and extreme personification of life. Don’t dwell on the negative, instead see the positive response you receive when you post your art. The large majority of the responses you will encounter is likely positive. At the end of the day, those who follow you are your fans. Ignore the negativity and deter them from interacting with your social media activity. Problem: Social media could be an unsustainable fad. Groundbreaking social media platform MySpace? Gone. Facebook: Decline in activity. Twitter: Who posts and responds anymore? Musicians making content for social media are often afraid that the accumulated content could all dissipate and be unable to stand the test of time. Consider all the MySpace posts—and followers—that evaporated into the obscure. This leaves many content creators pondering if posting content on social media is worthwhile in the grand scheme of it all. After all, their followers and their posts could be deleted in the blink of an eye, just like many found out with MySpace. New archetype: Don’t predicate your connection with fans to a single channel. Social media platforms are a simple and easy avenue to stay connected with followers. Be sure not to rely on a single platform, like Instagram, to be the only means you have or use to connect with fans. Use several platforms, in addition to email and text messages. Inspire fans to add you on your other social profiles and to be a member of your email and SMS lists. In conclusion: use your social media reach sensibly. Your new archetype for social media operation is that you should be the one to control its direction. It cannot and should not control your direction. Here are examples of how to ensure that happens:
Now, take charge of your connection with your fans, and don’t allow social media the power to get you down. |
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