Marketing Exercises for a Songwriter
Songwriters, as well as artists, are their own small businesses. Small businesses still need avenues for advertisement, marketing and getting their brand (and their songs) out to the world. As an aspiring songwriter, you need people in your corner. You need ears to hear your songs. No one will know what you have created if you don’t put it out in the world. This day in age, free advertising is at an all time high. Social media and blogs are the easiest (and cheapest) way to get your material to the masses. If you are new to this, or have been around the block and just need some tips to polish your self-marketing craft, here are some exercises for you!
1. Get in front of a camera! This does not mean drop $500 on a photography session and $100 more on a new outfit to appease your Facebook fans. This can be as simple as walking around your yard with a friend and an iPhone. Ask your loved ones to take photos of you while you are performing at your writer round. Video yourself singing while you get ready in the morning and save them for posts on Instagram that will make your followers feel like they know you. Even if you are not pursuing the ‘artist route’, social media is an incredible way to connect with up and coming artists who may be looking for music just like yours to add to their albums.
2. Offer a free download or piece of merch! If you have an email listing that you send news to about your music or even have followers on social media, this exercise is for you. Offer a free download of an acoustic version of the song you are putting out in the near future. Create fans that will listen before you even put the music out! Have a “Repost, Like and Comment” contest on Facebook or Instagram where you choose a random person to send a t-shirt or CD to. The winner almost always becomes a longtime fan because they feel personally connected to you once they have one of these items.
3. Ask your fans/followers what they want! Any good artist/songwriter knows who their audience is. They know who they are targeting and what their demographic is. Ask your followers or fans what they want to see more of from you through Instagram/Facebook stories and adapt your content to what feedback you receive. If they want to hear you do covers, give them 15 second covers! (Make sure to give credit to creators if you post!) If they want to see the inside of your writing room during a write, let them see it! Anything that helps them feel connected to you is free marketing and more free fans in the long run! Your fans create your image. Your fans and followers put food on the table. Treat them like that and they will continue to support you.
4. When you have a writer’s round or show, let people in the area know. If you are playing a writer round in Nashville, it wouldn’t make sense to share it with only your friends from back home. Find Facebook pages (like YEP-Young Entertainment Professionals or Songwriter Pages in that area) that are relevant to the area in which you have a show coming up. Reach the RIGHT fans and the AMOUNT of fans will level out. Share on all your personal pages as well. You never know what hometown friend you may have that has connections in the areas you are playing that could lend a hand in sharing your show.
5. If you sound somewhat like an already successful artist, look at their socials for inspiration! If you sound something like Cody Johnson and Dierks Bentley, look at their social medias and figure out what makes them successful. If you notice that they post more at a certain time, try to post around that time and see if it helps your “like” count. If they have fans in a certain region, follow those fans and if they follow back, thank them through a personal message. This makes you seem accessible which is all a fan wants you to be. The more attainable an artist seems through social media, the easier it is for a regular fan to become a lifetime fan!
6. Turn on your “business profile” features! Most social media provide you with a choice of being a personal account or a business account. You are a small business as a songwriter or artist! Treat your page as such. Turn on your “business profile” capabilities so you will able to track your insights on what content is successful and when you should post. This will also give you an idea of who is listening and where they are from. This can help you target specific people and places as you post content that they would hopefully pay more attention to.