I am researching social media marketing as I lack knowledge on how independently and effectively promote my music on social media platforms. I understand this is a great skill to have as a musician as you can gain a lot of attention from your social media page with good promotion, therefore I hope researching into this subject teach me how to professionally promote my music through social media effectively.
What Is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing is a targeted and interactive marketing strategy that uses social media platforms such as; Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest to develop a following and maintain the interest of current followers (Pulit, 2018).
Why To Use Social Media
It is good to use social media for marketing due it’s high effectivity when trying to retain customers. The reason social media is this effective is because it is a very personal platform that allows deep insight into the behaviour and preferences of your target audience. Currently 3.196 billion people are using social media platforms around the globe which is around %42 percent of the global population (Pulit, 2018). Meaning social media has the potential to carry information about your brand on a large global scale, hence why social media marketing is so popular today.
This sales funnel demonstrates the steps to growing a loyal following through social media, as you can see this first step in this sales funnel is to make people aware of your product/brand. Later you begin to share more information about your brand and begin to interact with your followers, to eventually maintain a loyal following.
Platforms Of Social Media
Each social media platform can be used as a tool in your social media marketing as each platform can serve a different purpose for your marketing. I will create a short list of the most commonly used social media platforms and their common use for social media marketing.
| Platform | Common Use | Monthly Users | Gender Percentage | Average Age (year olds) | Additional Marketing Information |
| Emotional Posts and Photos | 2.072 billion | 53% female 47% male | 87% percent of users are 18-29 yrs old | Posts between Thursdays and Fridays between 1.pm and 3.pm get more notice 57% percent of social media users say social media influences their shopping (44% percent of facebook users also say this) | |
| Photos (only 10% videos) | 800 million | 68% female 32% male | 59% 18-29 33% 30-49 yrs old | Posts with one hashtag have an average of 12.6% more engagement Posts with a location tag have 79% more engagement Users interact more on weekdays Photos that contain faces receive an average of 38% more likes | |
| News | 330 million | 24% of all male internet users are on twitter 21% percent of all female internet users are on twitter | 37% of users are between 18-29 yrs old 25% percent of users are between 30-49 yrs old | Twitter has seen a 2.5x in the last two years of customer service conversations 77% of twitter users feel more positive about their brand once their post has been replied to | |
| Youtube | videos; vlogs, promotion, events | 1.57 billion | 62% male consumers 38% female consumers | 35 and 55 age groups have the fastest growing demographic on YouTube 37% of 18-34 yr olds binge YouTube | 20% of viewers leave YouTube video if it doesn’t grab their attention in the first 10 seconds. 9% of all small businesses are on YouTube |
| Snapchat | Social (Fan base interaction) | over 300 million | around 70% of snapchat users are female | 45% of users are between 18-24 yrs old | average time spent on app is 0ver 30 minutes per day App is opened on average 18 times per day |
Brand Identity
Branding is about expressing your own personality through social media, this will attract a following that share the same ideology to that of your own brand. There are many different types of brands in todays society such as; clothing brands, music brands, gaming brands, etc. Some of these brands you may have heard of include; Supreme, Gucci, Yamaha, Steinway and Gear4Music. Two major associations with a brand are the logo and the tagline, therefore these two elements are very important when designing and marketing your own personal brand. Down below this paragraph are the Logos of some globally recognised and successful brands. As I am aspire to be a composer I will look at how some composers have branded themselves below this text.
Your Product
Before beginning to find a target audience for your product or promotion subject you must first begin to define your product for example is your product going to be a real commitment or have you designed it for the purpose of the course. Then you must ask yourself what it is that you are trying to promote to your audience, this could be anything such as; music, clothing, toys or instruments (Pulit, 2018). You must also begin to think in more detail about your promotion, thinking about wether your product is exclusive or widely available. “Is your product for luxury?”(Pulit, 2018). And also think about wether your product is connected to a specific location, lifestyle or subculture (Pulit, 2018). All of these elements I have mentioned will impact the way you approach promoting your project and how large the scale of your promotion will be.
Target Audience
Social media can also collect each users; geographical, demographical and personal information which allows products that resonates with each user to appear on their social media. This is called segmenting as the product appears to a certain group of people that may be interested in your product, the internet is very good at segmenting with tool such as cookies (Pulit, 2018). Cookies collects user data based on their search history and web browser which will suggest products which match their interests. Using segmentation companies can ensure their product is reaching their target audience that will be interesting in purchasing their product (Pulit, 2018).
Content Marketing
Content marketing is a marketing strategy where the content is focused on being created and published for a target audience online. The content of the product often communicates with the brands story to give the consumers more information about the company and its goals. Having a narrative to your brand helps build trust and engage your audience with the content you post online. The central idea of content marketing is that you must give something valuable to the consumers to gain something valuable in return (Pulit, 2018). This could be to grow your company from being a small followed artist to a globally recognised brand/artist. Content is the main element which will help you grow a loyal following therefore it is very important to post high quality and engaging content online to grow your brand/product.
How To Promote Your Content
This is an image showing an 8 step guide to promoting your material online once it is published, I found this guide very useful and enlightening. Therefore when I reach promotion for my project I will begin to use this promotion cycle to share my music with internet users. However Instead of adding a URL link to Bit.ly on my social media, I will instead send a URL link to my own webpage which I will begin designing in the upcoming week.
Social Media Marketing/Promotion Case Study (Hans Zimmer)
Hans Zimmer is a very successful and highly demanded film composer in the Hollywood film making industry. He has worked on films such as; Interstellar, Inception, The Dark Knight Trilogy and Dune. Hans Zimmer also does a very good job at promoting himself through social media, which is why I am going to study how he uses social media for promotion. For this case study I will be studying his activity on instagram as this is the social media platform I am most familiar with and it is very popular currently.
In his account heading Zimmer has promoted his upcoming event music event with ‘#HansZimmerLive’, this keeps fans up to date on his upcoming events giving them time to book tickets if they are interested. He also lists the content of his event within the bio, stating that he will be playing the music from Dune, No Time To Die and more. This allows consumers to be confident within purchasing the tickets as they know what to expect through the information he has given them. At the end of the ticket promotion it has a down arrow emoji, which is pointing to a linktree link in his bio. A linktree is a website which stores all of your relevant links on it, such as; Social media accounts, stores, and upcoming events. The link to this website can be placed inside your instagram bio, allowing fans and potential employers to easily obtain information on your activity and career online. Therefore Hans Zimmer having this in his bio allows fans to quickly access other Hans Zimmer related pages, furthermore growing his followers and listeners through his music and social media.
On Zimmers linktree he has shared the link to all of his other social media accounts including; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Spotify and Youtube. This allows fans to quickly find his social media accounts and follow him with no trouble of finding him. Below his social media links he has included a link to his upcoming event, which allows fans to buy tickets to his concert. This will allow him to interact with his fans and therefore keep them engaged with his musical content. He has also shared a link to his most recent music soundtrack which is Dune, this will direct fans to listen to his music furthermore generating income and promotion. As his fans and newcomers will be able to listen to his music. The music video for a track called “Final Ascent” has also been shared allowing people who are interested in experiencing music through music videos to listen to his music and enjoy it. The final important thing Zimmer has posted on his linktree is a website link to his Masterclass, this allows fans and future film composers to learn from him and therefore build a more personal connection to him. Meaning he will obtain many loyal followers as he has given valuable information to them, and in return they are thankful and become loyal followers.
Source List
Pulit, K., 2018. Social Media Marketing. [ebook] London: London College Of Communication, pp.2-58. Available at: <https://digitalspace.bradfordcollege.ac.uk/music/wp-content/uploads/sites/83/2020/02/Social-Media-Marketing_July-2018_handout.compressed-13.pdf> [Accessed 28 March 2022].
Zimmer, H., n.d. @hanszimmer | Linktree. [online] Linktree. Available at: <https://linktr.ee/hanszimmer> [Accessed 28 March 2022].
Zimmer, H., n.d. Instagram| Hans Zimmer. [online] Instagram. Available at: <https://www.instagram.com/hanszimmer/?hl=en> [Accessed 28 March 2022].