Connecting With Your Fans: Ideas For Blogging Musicians
If you are reading this article, it’s because you are a musician looking to build a fan-base that one day will enable you to make a decent living off of your talents. You may also have a relationship with me and my marketing company, and at this point understand the importance of connecting with your fans.
Obviously the most important way you’ll connect with them is through your music. However, you’re going to have to do more than just get them listening – you want them to talk to everyone they know in the hopes of creating new fans, who will talk to their friends, etc.
So how do you find these fans? First, you get them into your music. Then, you have to make them feel like they are part of something special.
Ever notice that punk rock fans wear their hearts on their sleeves? How punk rock music has such a big impact on their fashion, their purchases, hell even their politics?
It’s because they belong to a special club – the club of punk rock.
YOU need to create that special club, and you’ll recruit new members by interacting with them.
Here’s a math equation for you:
Quality, Interactive Content + Digital Marketing = Fans
Let’s break this down a little more. You are responsible for creating the quality, interactive content. So what’s interactive content? Many think that “interactive” means “flashy graphics and sounds”. While that can play a role, good interaction is more about getting a response out of the viewer/listener. Their are 3 major forms of interactive content that we will have to produce to get people’s attention:
Audio – obviously the main focus is your music. Create good music, and LET PEOPLE HEAR IT – you’ve got to give something away to build the foundation. Enabling the listener to share the music with others, comment on the music, even remixing the tracks, etc. – that’s the interaction. Also note that podcasts also play a role in the audio content department. Podcasts could consist of material just like a blog post could, and we’ll be covering ideas for content in a little bit.
An example of how to easily stream a track in a post.
Video – video content is HUGE – live performances especially. We haven’t spent a whole lot of time talking about video at this point because for many, video is expensive to set up, record, edit, etc. However, if the opportunity to get video in there arises, DO IT! Again, you could even do little videos of practice, being in the studio, interviews – see below for the plethora of ideas you could use to create good video content.
Insightful Video of Eddie Vedder Singing at a Cubs Game.
Photos – a given. People love looking at you in every kind of situation, whether it be performing live, in the studio, or eating a pizza. People develop an emotional bond via pictures.
Me & Keith Kane from Vertical Horizon
Type – you should by now have the ability to get the typed word in front of your visitors. I stress the blogging stuff so much because it’s SO EASY to do, and it costs really nothing other than the initial set-up fees and hosting. Your time is the only factor, and I know that a lot of that is spent creating the music.
That’s what we have to understand the most though – being a successful musician is so much more than just creating the music – you’ve got to create an emotional bond with your fans.
You can start doing that today by writing consistent blog posts on your website that give people a peak into your world, your mind. The more you give people, the more they’ll pay attention to you and gossip.
Think about the media’s obsession with Britney Spears. They NEED constant updates of her life. They NEED gossip. Millions of fans tune into E! everyday or pick up People magazine for the latest news. Why should they get the attention? Get it yourself by personally blogging about what’s going on.
Now, let’s make one thing clear – DON’T GIVE IT ALL AWAY – give just enough to keep people interested. If you want to talk about personal stuff, go ahead, but be a little vague maybe so that people can ask questions or gossip or want to hear more – if you give too much away, you might turn people off a bit. Keep ‘em hanging and wanting more.
If you’re asking yourself “Who the hell gives a shit about me?”, just turn on the TV. It’s full of silly reality shows about ordinary people and their ordinary lives. And we all love it. Trust me, if you start creating interesting content, people will pay attention.
So enough blabbering all ready. Here are the things your fans want to hear, watch, and read about:
1. The meaning of your music – inspirations, lyrics, personal things, etc. Give us a peak into the creative inspiration behind things.
2. The creation of this music – you could blog for months on end about the process of writing, performing, recording, etc.
3. The performing of this music – again, there is so much to talk about here. Imagine writing a post about every gig you play, the things that happened at the show, the food you ate, the crazy drugs you did afterwards; whatever happens, write about the experience. The bigger and longer the tour is, the more interesting insights you’ll have to share.
4. The business of this music – my blog, for example, only discusses ONE ASPECT of the business and I’m not even trying to promote an album yet. There’s a million different aspects to the business that you could share with the world.
5. Your personal development – how things in your past have affected you and the music you create. Did you have a parent who was a musician? Who was the first band you saw live and did they have an impact on you?
These are the five main things that you should use as inspiration for a blog post. If you started off doing one category each week, then you’d have a nice mix of content for your fans to consume. However, don’t feel constrained either by these ideas – if you something creative pops in your mind, then go with it.
There are a million resources online which discuss content development, “linkbaiting”, blogging, and other concepts that will help improve your writing. The more time you spend learning how to engage your audience, the more powerful the bond you create will be.
And that friends, at the end of the day, is what it’s all about.
Resources for blogging:
http://www.problogger.net
http://www.copyblogger.com
