To be successful, bands and musicians realize they must cultivate a sizable following. The essential foundation of your music career’s success is determining best strategies to increase fan involvement for musical performers.
There are several ways to build fan engagement to grow your music career, all of them have a few points in common:
- Be yourself
- Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there
- Showcase your music consistently (and make use of platforms, outreach opportunities, websites, social media, your website, and more).
- Create music in public. Make yourself vulnerable, relatable, and let your fans understand everything that goes on “behind the scenes” as well.
Many musicians lack the time or means necessary to personally handle these chores. The excellent news is More of a mental adjustment is required than time, money, or tools. You require activity and chutzpah.
Mix and combine with platforms accessible, on your website, on social media, and more here are top ways for you and your team members to easily increase fan involvement:
Consistency is the open secret to better engagement
Think of it this way: which is easier to do: creating and showcasing music — any music (whether it is good or bad) regularly or going out on stage like Tina Turner, Celine Dion, or Rihanna?
If you are like most people, it’s easier to just keep creating music and showing up regularly, with consistency.
The point you missed is that even the greatest of the greatest music stars have “consistency” — in creating and promoting music — as their backbone for success.
So, the more you show up, the more chances you have of better engagement with your fans. Your music career depends more on “consistency” than on pure genius or just how many times your music makes it to the top of the charts.
Consistency, since it seems like such a simple thing (and not some super-secret or a magic bullet) is often underrated by many creatives (including writers, publishers, and music artists).
Roll out polls. Ask Questions (Get feedback. Deliver)
Ask fans what they want more from you via Facebook polls, Twitter Polls, actual questions during a YouTube Live session or on Instagram live.
By asking questions, you are not only wetting your toes with active engagement but also letting your fans know that you care, that you are doing what they want you to do, and that they are involved in the growth of your music career.
Host a live Q&A session on YouTube
The good thing about YouTube live is that it doesn’t just allow you to do YouTube Livestreams (which is an immediate and fast way to engage with your fans) but it also leaves the chat window open for instantaneous, real-time conversations with clients. Whether your fans watch you live on Mobile or the Desktop, there’s more space (and time) for them to ask questions.
This paves the path for you to hang out with them by hosting a live Q & A session, during which you can:
- Let your fans ask you questions directly (and you answer them)
- Show them bits of your personal side (which they normally won’t get behind the super-polished videos and music that you normally create)
- Build relationships and engagement with fans almost at scale.
- Repurpose(or reuse) your live Q & A videos as actual videos on your YouTube Channel (letting others watch your previous live streams) and make use of Youtube’s enormous built-in distribution to help you grow your fan base.
Show them a glimpse of your life (music and other than music)
True engagement comes from you being “you”. Your music, art, and creativity are one thing; getting to know you personally (even if it’s a wee bit) is even better.
No one wants to connect to a “music label”. If you are unreachable to your fans (as a person), you are not letting them connect with you on a personal level.
- We are humans. We are hardwired to connect.
- But we connect only when we get to know real people.
So, go all out on social media (and elsewhere, including videos, podcasts, and on your blog posts) and post photos and videos that show how much fun you’re having as an artist.
Showcase aspects of your life (like when you are traveling on a music gig or even when you are waiting at the airport while twiddling with your musical instruments or editing videos).
Let your fans get a glimpse of the work that it takes to be you.
How are you going to build fan engagement as a music artist? What are you going to do?
