The Official Artist Help Blog

social_media

1. ALL YOU’RE THINKING ABOUT IS YOU

Maybe it’s because we hear music where it’s supposedly a “good” thing to boast about yourself, but let’s face it, if all we do is post about, “Go check out this song, it would mean a lot to me,” no one is going to care.

No one cares what means a lot to you right now because generally speaking, you’re a nothing-burger on the scope of the music scene.

Think about it. We’re living in the age of the “selfie” (a term that I loathe by the way, but that’s beside the point).

Social media is a very narcissistic place. People are invested in themselves and will ONLY click your music link if there’s something in it for them.

2. MAKE IT ABOUT YOUR LISTENER

Picture this.

You’re at a huge party. There’s thousands of people around and you’re trying to find a way to be heard above the noise.

Everyone at the party is talking about themselves. Trying to promote their aspirations and get people behind what they’re doing, but there’s one problem.

Everyone has the same goal in the party.

How can you get people to respond to your goal more than ANYONE else at the party?

Talk about the other peoples goals before you talk about yours.

You know what the worst part about me giving out this golden piece of information is?

People will read this and not change a thing about the way they’re promoting their music even though it’s the single most useful advice they can implement instantly.

3. HOW DO YOU START THE CONVERSATION?

I see people post messages like, “Hey, I make music. What do you do? Here’s a link to my newest song.”

And for some odd reason they think this is an effective form of promotion.

What’s wrong with this?

It shows that you don’t really care about what the other person is doing or else you would’ve looked at their tweets or Facebook page and already known what they’re about.

I gained thousands of listeners and made thousands of dollars from social media all by approaching my target audience with an interest solely in what they’re doing.

Start a conversation on Twitter with any potential *targeted* listener by making a comment about one of their posts, and they’ll be infinitely more likely to listen to your music.

Show that you actually care about what they’re talking about and they’ll reciprocate it.

4. ANYTHING THAT EVER STARTS WITH ‘CHECK OUT’ OR ‘LISTEN TO’

Your wording around your link is very important.

Having a bunch of emoticons and arrows pointing towards your link isn’t going to cut it.

Here’s a big tip. Go look at the headlines on a news site like Yahoo!

Think about the last time you were scrolling through the internet and a headline caught your eye, then you clicked the link.

Bingo! Start making your music posts like that.

5. PRAISING YOUR OWN MUSIC

Humility precedes wisdom. Remember that.

I’ve had people mention me on Twitter saying their song is the hottest thing to ever come out.

You know who gave them that raving review?

Themselves.

Let others do your boasting for you.

There’s a difference between praising yourself and stating the facts. For instance:

My independent music page has grossed over 4,000,000 plays. That’s a fact that will get people to go listen.

You’ll see video testimonials from Dr. Dre and Darius Rucker on my home page (www.omarimc.com) recommending my music and the artists I’ve worked with. That’s a fact that will get people to listen.

You may not have the same credentials yet, but start with a small nice comment someone made about your music to entice people to listen.

6. YOUR MUSIC LINK IS POSTED WITHOUT A HEADLINE

JUST posting a Soundcloud link without any context surrounding it is foolish.

You don’t have millions of followers and can’t get away with something like this.

Come up with a unique headline that no one else is using and make it yours.

7. YOU SENT YOUR LINK TO FIVE PEOPLE AT THE SAME TIME

If I see a tweet come at me with five other names attached to it it feels completely impersonal.

Social media is meant to be social, not promotional.

If you’re going to do a mass promotion at least make it something that everyone actually wants.

A hard pill to swallow is not everyone wants to hear your music, but at the same time that’s good to acknowledge so you can spend more time going after your target audience.

8. YOU THINK MORE FOLLOWERS WILL SAVE YOUR MUSIC CAREER

While having more followers can help, it’s not as drastic as you think.

There’s no replacement for having solid marketing, and your follower count is NOT directly representative of your marketing.

I know this probably goes against everything you’ve been thinking, but that’s why I write these articles to save musicians from the trap that’s in their own minds.

I could generate 4x the traffic by using good headlines than someone else can by using crappy posts with a bunch of followers.

9. YOUR BIGGEST OBSTACLE IS YOU

I might catch some flack for this one, but I know those who are honest with themselves will appreciate me for saying this.

Let’s just be honest, if you wanted to REALLYYYYY change your music career there’s resources everywhere.

Heck, there’s books around marketing your music you could pick up right after reading this and they’re as cheap 5 flippin dollars. Go skip Subway for lunch and buy a marketing book. This… is… not… hard… and needs to stop being over complicated.

I was recently watching Amercian Idol and saw grown adults cry after they got denied by the judges for their “big shot” at making it in the industry.

I thought, “Why”? Why do we keep playing like we’re helpless. If you’ve done all you know how to do, then GO GET SOME MORE KNOWLEDGE. There are great booksand courses for aspiring artists to invest in.

Some are as cheap as $5, and trust me, whatever device you’re reading this on means you have $5 to spend on a book about marketing your music more effectively so you can MAKE more money.

Click here to pick up ‘Make Them Beg To Buy Your Music’. A marketing book that will teach you how to make a full-time music income.

10. STUBBORNNESS (WAKE UP! WE’RE NOT DONE YET)

Humans are creatures of habit.

They don’t like change, and at the same time when something isn’t working they want someone to come along and say, “Just keep doing what you’re doing and work hard, and everything will be OK.”

Deep down you KNOW what you’re doing isn’t working the way you want it to.

That’s not the question.

The question is will you do what’s necessary to succeed.

Everyone likes to skim through articles like this. They’ll try out a thing or two for 30 minutes and go back to what they were doing before.

Wake up and smell the record sales! There aren’t many. You’ve GOT to start taking action on things! Go pick up a music marketing book or buy a course. Seriously, why keep holding off on your dreams and end up like the millions of musicians around the world stuck in some 9-5?

Start making the change right now.