From Followers to Fans - How to Create Closer Connections with Your Followers
By Aaron Ray, HMC Manager
In today’s world, social media gives us a platform to expose our art, our business, ourselves and anhything else you can think of. And of course, like any platform or business, it is important to understand how it works and how you can maximise it’s potential!
Want to get serious? If you are just trying to constantly sell your stuff you can't expect people that are at an early stage of getting to know you to consistently listen to your music, buy your merch, pay money to come to your shows, use your services etc etc. Maybe, but the key to turning that "maybe" into a "definitely" revolves around bringing them into your world, a world that they connect with and want to be a part of.
One of the most important tips I can give you when approaching the task is this - you need to put yourself into the shoes of your followers.. you need to share content, your story etc in ways that adds value to your followers, in ways that gives them something. You need to move away from thinking about simply what it is you want to share and how you want to share it. This shift is incredibly important.
This is where your branding, your image, your story, your visual style and your level of engagement are crucial. These are so so important and are the key to developing a REAL following of people who are the gateway to a career as a full time musician. These are all ways that you can build a connection with a follower:
Your branding style - the fonts, colours etc you consistently use, and your logo(s) may be pleasing to someone's eye. Creating this ensures people instantly recognise you when they see you or your content in future, even on other platforms. And people like things that look familiar, right?!
By engaging with people you are strengthening the connection each and every conversation - so take those opportunities to engage at every opportunity! Show interest in the people that show interest in you... these days it needs to be a two-way street.
By telling your story (in an engaging manner) you are finding a hook to connect more deeply with your followers... If they're into you they will be waiting for the next chapter, the next part of the story. Because people love to stalk! You are doing something super interesting, music, something everybody is interested in to some extent, people want to see that! Also, there's a good chance that one of those times you tell a story one or more of your followers have experienced something similar. If so, that's another step forward in that connection. But you need to be engaging people at least every 2 couple of days! Pick 4 (or so) things you want to share about your life in addition to your music (travelling, spirituality, basketball, whatever) and let people know that's you. Give them hooks to connect with you!
By creating a consistent visual style you are bringing unity to your image, you are creating your own style. And style matters! Think of why you hang out with many of your friends... you like how they look, they represent what you represent. This is the same for the online world. Take the time to think of what your style is and start to create it. From the style of your photos (abstract, bright and cheerful, dark and moody as some examples), to the language you use (emotive, intellectual, formal, gangster, spiritual, stupid, whatever!), this should all be consistent. That way you'll form a consistent connection with your followers where they can identify who you are (online) and can, therefore, identify with you.
The one thing to remember with all of this - these things do not need to match your individual personality perfectly. Of course it is important to be genuine, truly one of the golden rules, but also you need to think about this a bit - what are the parts of you and your music that are unique, interesting, engaging etc? A thought-through approach which represents your MUSIC and your story/inspiration/personality.
Listen to your music or look at your work with a fresh ear/set of eyes, what does it say to you? What colours do you hear? What style do you see? That's the starting point for creating your brand, your style etc. Sorry to say it, but you and your music/music work are a business... start to build a business persona that is genuine to who you are and what your music is but is also particular, with parameters, consistency, and not too much complexity!
The hard part for me is building that visual style... something that looks cool and goes together well.. here's a few tips:
Find a photographer whose style you like. Spend a bit of money, if you have to, working with them, and pick their brain on what they do to create the good pics - things like the angles they use, where things sit in the frame of the photo, and how to edit the photos consistently to create your style. A friend who can show you some of these things is perfect! Tip: work out how to frame a picture and how to use lighting, spend a tiny bit of time applying the right filter to each photo, and adjusting the brightness/contrast/saturation etc and you are a long way there.
Use the "Preview" app before each post to see how your proposed post fits in to the rest of your page. The "Squareready" app can also help you create a visual style by adding border etc to pictures.
Invest in a phone with a high quality camera! It will make a huge difference.
Avoid selfies! OK, not always, especially with your stories, but find a way to make them different.... position yourself half out of picture, take them from a low angle, do something different. Try doing "self-portraits" instead, i.e. positioning the camera somewhere, carefully selecting the frame, setting the timer then taking the shot.
For example, I lower the saturation to reduce the vibrancy of the colours, lower the contrast to create a more nostalgic look, lower the brightness and exposure to make the photo a bit darker and to bring more shadow. This all fits in with my music, which is emotional and melancholy, a bit darker.
By focussing on these things you are building a business... and a business is what makes money. If you are not thinking about these things then you are losing valuable opportunities to create a sustainable, long-term business.