So you've got the music chops, can shred a huge solo, and you’re now ready for the world to see what you’re up to! Outside of your inner circle, your mates and your mum and dad, there’s probably no better way in this day and age to get a following than to build a social presence.

With the endless possibilities of promotion on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube (and a million more), it can be hard to know where to start. If you’re feeling a bit lost with how to get more people interested in what you do, and want more engagements on your posts, you’re in luck.Down below are the top 5 pro-tips to help you get started.

Branding

The term branding basically means having consistent messaging that is distinct, memorable or unique about a product, person or company that creates a ‘brand’. Musos need to treat their act like a brand. It’s such an important aspect to your act that will help you in all things from social media to PR releases.This can be seen in a trademarked shade of purple for Cadbury, or the audio cue whenever you open a Netflix show, you associate that colour and sound with the brands. As a musician on social media, you don’t have to have something trademarked and plastered on everything, to have branded content. It could be something as simple as all of your instagram posts having the same filter, your posters having the same graphics and logo, or you wearing a similar colour palette in photos. Fundamentally it’s consistency of content and a ‘look and feel’.Branding is great for people to remember who you are as they might associate you with a certain “thing”, so think about what makes you, you. Let that special you-ness shine through in your posts! Think about how you want to be portrayed externally. What are your values? What is your story? What does that story mean and how can you remain consistent to that story?We will be writing more about creating a brand as a musician.

Quality of Content

For any pictures, posters and videos that you post, try and make sure that what’s being posted isn’t blurry, overly pixelated and has audible sound quality. You’ll notice with artists that you love, usually the content posted on their page are clear images or videos. If you want to go a step further, having a session with a photographer, videographer or graphic designer will help you develop a catalogue of some great promotional artwork for your social media.Use this for your profile and cover photos and you will make sure heads will turn your way. Sometimes it’s just as simple as having a friend or family member take a few iPhone pictures at that gig coming up, throwing on a nice filter and start building from there. Good-looking and eye-catching content is so important.

Consistency of Content

Anyone that works in social media knows the importance of posting regularly to keep your audience engaged, this being the key to great socials. So, you have some quality content to work with, and now it’s all about making sure you keep your social media up-to-date. A usual rule for artist socials is to post 1 to 2 times per week (or more) with an update over your platforms, keeping your growing audience engaged. You can post updates on anything from an upcoming gig, an event poster, reposting a photo of you, a release happening soon, a new video you’ve created, a collaboration, flashbacks to an event, a photo or video teaser, etc! Having a range of posts and mixing it up between photos, videos, posters, event links and music links will keep a potential new follower scrolling your feed.It’s also incredibly important to make sure that your feed is consistent. Your feed needs a general theme that reflects your brand - something that your followers can understand at a glance.E.g. colour filters, type of content (carefree vs. political), tone and mood (humorous or broodiness).

Content Tone

When writing up a post or adding in a description, the best thing to ask yourself is “would I stop and read this post, if I was scrolling through my feed?” Sometimes it’s as simple as writing content with a tone that you yourself would find engaging. Do you like posts of other artists that have descriptions and content that is funny, or maybe content that has a lot of emoticons, posts that are written in third person, content that is personal and open, or are even formal, slick and minimalist? Try and keep whatever content you release with a similar vibe and feel to make your social media platform feeling cohesive.

Sponsored Posts and The Power of Sharing

If your posts are regular looking and sounding sharp, but you’re still struggling to reach a wider audience, you may want to sponsor your page or a post. This means paying an amount of money over a period of time (whatever you’re comfortable with) to a social media platform and “boosting” it, so a wider range of people see your content. Sometimes sponsoring a post is best when you’re just launching a new page and want to gain some immediate followers, or even when you’re having some kind of launch or special content that you want a wider audience to see. Doing this, as well as asking your friends and family to “like, comment and share” will extend your posts reach. There are more complex social media activities you can use to achieve broader reach, but starting at a simple boost is a great way to begin your learning.So now you have read about the top tips of social media as a musician, hopefully, you now have the tools to start your social media journey and get those followers that you deserve. The internet is constantly growing and changing, and there are always going to be new and exciting platforms to share on, but if you stick to these 5 top tips you should be A-Okay in manoeuvering this ever-changing social media-loving world of ours!Now you've got your marketing down pat and want to hone your craft on the great stages of music but need a leg up, sign up to Surreal and start gigging now!