If you’re out there plugging away at your music career, you already know that it’s hard, extremely time consuming, and exhaustive work trying to steer the attention of the distracted and time-starved folks out there towards whatever it is you do.
So how do you rate your success? What unit of measurement do you consult to judge how things are going? Is it the number of Facebook friends you have, or the number of Youtube subscribers, or how many hits your shred video has had? What about the number of people on your mailing list, or how many people read the thread you started at xyz gear forum?
As you can probably guess, I’m going to say no to all of the above.
As a musician, your unit of measurement should be the people you connect with through your music. Notice that I didn’t even say the number of people?
There’s perhaps never been a better time to reach more people in terms of the tools we have, yet it’s super important to remember that these are just tools. Just like a good advertisement for a car or a food product, it’s not about how many people like the ad, it’s about whether or not they like the product. There seems to be a real “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality when it comes to equalling or beating a “competing” musician with the number of this, that, or the other. And to be blunt, anyone can buy Facebook fans, Youtube views, Twitter followers etc from highly visible providers of such services. If it’s a numbers pissing competition you’re into, go and buy 20,000 fans right now for $100 and then use your time for something else!
What you want for your music is real connection with real people, right from the beginning. If Youtube and Facebook went down tomorrow, could you still go and play a show next week and get 50-100 real people who love your music in that room to watch? Could you get them to grab a CD that they will boast about to all their friends, or a T-shirt that they proudly wear to someone else’s gig? Will they be telling everyone at work about it at around the water cooler?
If you took away your biggest social media accomplishment, would you still have “fans”? This is what I want you to ask yourself. Be honest, and if the answer is “no”, or “not as many as I’d like”, then start finding ways to connect to your real fans. They’re out there somewhere, and they might not spend as much time “logged in” looking for you as you do for them. As silly as it may sound at first, you might have been better off using that 2 hours you spent adding [famous musician]’s social networking friends to busk on a busy street instead, engaging real people with what you’re doing. No links, no status update, just you, the music, and the people. It’s just an example, so try to think outside the realms of your computer and you could be really on to something. Remember that a fan raving about you to friends over dinner is worth 100 people clicking “like”.
If you use facebook advertising CTRs (click through rates) as a guide, for every 1,000 people that see you link, status, etc., between five and twenty people will take action (excluding the odd eye-catcher that you might get lucky on) - not very impressive considering the energy you put into building and maintaining this group of people on your list. Have you ever noticed it's the same people every time anyway? Build up that fan base outside of social networks and encourage those real prospects to join you on those platforms, and you’ll see a far greater result. Remember the business adage that "80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers", and cultivate that connection between the small part of your fan base that is totally committed to supporting you. Those people are your real unit of measurement in success.
This is not a rant against social media. This age has provided a fantastic and accessible marketing tool for your music, but don’t get so caught up in the marketing that you lose sight of what you’re really trying to do here – connect with other people through the gift of music. I bet that’s why you started in the first place.
Chris Brooks
Chris Brooks is a working guitarist from Sydney Australia. His latest album is entitled “The Axis of All Things”, available from www.chrisbrooks.com and all good digital retailers.
