Over the last year, I decided to try a small experiment, my business has been doing great and I was getting a lot of referral business, so I was busy. I made the decision to stop marketing and let my referral business take me where I thought I could go. Boy was I wrong, The first thing I noticed was a lack of leads coming in from my wedding shows and from my ads that I gave up. The second thing that I noticed was a significant drop in web hits. My website was ranking the same but the number of visitors had dropped significantly, try 50%. Consequently, one of the hardest things that I ever had to do was restart my marketing campaign, and when you do, you’ll find that you are kind of on your own. So to start fixing my marketing fubar I needed to become my own social media manager.
So here are few tips that I have learned to help you navigate Social media:
1. Consistency is key. If possible try to get your artist name the same on everything so people can easily find it, this is also good for SEO. For example, if you get the FB handle /RobertDRiley you are going to want that for @tags for Twitter, Instagram, and Soundcloud. It’s not always easy, sometimes you will need to make adjustments to your DJ name or little tweaks, like DJRobertDRiley, unlike what I did and that was to be Robert D. Riley and Dj Wicked Jester and The Wicked One. Remembering Facebook’s rules about profiles its easier to use your name and use you DJ name on the nickname.
2. Keep your content consistent and make sure to interact with other artists, fans, and publications. It’s like being at an actual event, make sure you talk to people and network, don’t just stand around and expect people to come to you because they probably won’t.
Also, make sure to stay consistent with the content that you are sharing, you need to have a regular presence to get noticed as well. Once a week will not cut it; this is a daily exercise and it will take some patience to figure out your style. It’s always good to have a mix of information on your page and not always be promoting yourself because that’s just greedy. Being social is all about sharing and collaborating. Ask other artists their opinion, set-up remix exchanges with people, etc.
3. Find a social media content organization platform like Sprout Social, Pagemodo, or Hootsuite to help you automate your content posts. These types of platforms will help you get your content organized and planned out. This way you can automate a good chunk of your content and not constantly be bogged down with social media tasks. It’s good to be spontaneous when you can and always try to get back to your fans when they reach out to you until it gets just too overwhelming, then you can set up an automated response (at least on FB you can).
4. You don’t have to be on every single social network at first, just pick the most important ones to start. You need Facebook, Twitter and Soundcloud to start off with as those are still essential. What you don’t want to do is get overwhelmed with too many portals, and then the whole thing will become counter-productive.
5. Share information on your FB wall that’s relevant to your audience, as soon as you start to experiment you will start to see the patterns of what your fans are engaging with and what they’re not. Focus on creating more of the content that works and less of what’s not working. Also, it’s good to have an opinion on things but don’t be aggressive about expressing it as you will lose fans and just become a troll that pisses everyone off. ALWAYS stay away from twitter fights with other artists, it makes you look juvenile and can push fans away from you. Be likable and you will get likes, that simple.
6. Promote your messages and content across all platforms when possible. For example, If you have a new mix going up on Soundcloud make sure to push out on Twitter and Facebook at the same time and @mention all of the artists that are appearing on your mix. You would be surprised at how many artists will be stoked by a simple mention and retweet or repost your mix on their wall, etc.
If you deploy some of this advice, you will find yourself having much better results across the board with your social media outlets. Most importantly, just remember to be patient and pay attention to the patterns, and then focus on what works and bail on things that don’t. That’s the key here. Move and react fast and you will get results a whole lot quicker.
“Purveyor of music across decades and styles in a perfect mix .”
That’s how Robert describes himself as a entertainer. Never afraid to have fun, his wedding receptions are a perfect mix of Broadway style blocking and transitions and good old southern charm. Having grown up on his families eclectic combination of Outlaw country, (Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson), 70's -80's Hard Rock, (Kiss, Iron Maiden), and synth-infused pop 80s (Prince, Alan Parsons Project)… all which became infused with his own love for both early hip-hop and southern rock music, Robert ended up with quite a mixed spectrum of musical influence. Today, this translates into sets that will take you back into yesteryear and send you flying into today's hottest hits without ever missing a groove,
A very active member of his local community, Robert is no stranger to the ups-and-downs of a small-town music scene. Though he loves playing in nightclubs, patios and special events, his love for music goes beyond the spectrum of mixing tunes. As a wedding entertainer he found a love for making the perfect show seamless, from those very first introductions till the final dance is played, every moment is like a beautifully choreographed Broadway show, where the stars are the Wedding Party.
“For me, it’s all about making that day seamless, to let the wedding party and their guests relax and enjoy the day, knowing that everything is handled"
