Image via diymusician.cdbaby.com
Revolution is a fun word, and it's an important word when it comes to any artist's image. Not only is the creative market one that needs constant evolution and artistic changes, but the marketing world is also in constant flux. You have to be consistently up to par with marketing trends, and just tactful overall in the whole arena of how to best market your work to your fanbase. And while most of us get overwhelmed at the thought of having to keep up that consistent presence, there are certainly gradual daily tasks in which you can keep your channels relevant, up to par, and powerful. Here, we're breaking this down into a weekly format, but obviously mix and match for your own goals and schedule.
Monday: Schedule your essential posts
Take half an hour on Monday to schedule out posts that you know you'll need to tell your fans. This could be something as simple as a show reminder, a snippet from a single, or even a photo from a recent gig. Log in to your Buffer or Hootsuite app and schedule away. By doing this, all of your solid posts are scheduled and ready for the week, and you can just focus on answering fan comments, retweeting relevant tweets, and sharing fun articles you may come across for the rest of the week.
Tuesday: Edit photos, make graphics, find content
Now that you have your essential content planned to go live, spend half an hour today picking out fun photos from shows or even making quick graphics. I recommend programs such as Pixlr or Pic Monkey where you can take a great photo of your band, lay over some fun text, and boom – quick announcement graphic for Facebook!
Wednesday: Upkeep and promo
Most artists will have the bulk of their gigs on the weekends, and Wednesdays are the days where most community calendars and media outlets start plugging local events. Therefore, you should be, too! Spend half an hour sharing calendars that have your show details, as well as posting your own shows on your outlets. Be sure to tag relevant venues, and spend time promoting your work.
Don't have a gig, have one coming up, or want to get one? Wednesdays are also a good day to start working on PR. A lot of media outlets handle their writing duties Mondays and Tuesdays and tend to overlook releases at the end of the week, so Wednesday may be a great day to send out a few press releases, build a media list, or reach out to some booking agents.
Thursday: Update everything
Those Facebook and Twitter banners that have last month's tour dates... yep, let's change that. Or better yet, the banner that's just a pixelated image of your guitar – let's spend 15 minutes making a simple graphic listing tour dates.
Go into your bio on Twitter and Instagram, and add any information people may need to know, or that they'll see. Take those quotes from past reviews and schedule them to go live, thanking the journalist. Make sure every outlet is up-to-date and where it needs to be, because you'll likely be too busy gigging all weekend to make changes then.
Friday to Sunday: Get new content
Make sure to take videos, photos, and anything you can to post on your outlets. You can post these in real time and/or save them for scheduling on Monday. If you're not too busy or tired on Sunday, take some time and edit those videos and photos, and get them pretty for your social media channels.
What's your weekly social media routine? Can you commit to 30 minutes every day? Let us know in the comments below!
As a music marketing strategist, Tyler Allen works with an extensive array of artists, labels, music tech, and music retail entities. Tyler began his music industry career with Sony Music Entertainment and RED Distribution, as well as the advertising industry. He is dedicated to giving veteran artists the tools to preserve their legacy, and new artists the tools to begin theirs (as well as everything in between). Learn more at wtylerconsulting.com.
