King Kong Mail

So Facebook are now charging page owners to promote their posts to their own fans… Huh?

Seems a bit shitty right? You have all these fans and unless you pay Facebook only about 15-20% are going to see your post.

But what most people don’t realise is that before promoted posts came along only 15-20% of your fans saw your posts anyway.

And Twitter’s no better, you may reach more of your fans but click through rates tend to be under 2%.

So you’ve spent 2 years building up your 5,000 Facebook likes and 2,000 twitter followers but nobody’s reading your posts.

How Do You Reach All Your Fans and Find New Ones?

This isn’t the first time that bands have been shafted by social media.

When Myspace took a nosedive a few years back they left millions of bands talking to thousands of ‘friends’ that no longer existed.

But the internet is still the best promotional tool ever invented and if you use it right your can grow your fan base and more importantly reach all of your fans.

There are two things that are vital for any band promoting their music online:

1. Build Your Own Website.
(Have control over your image, layout and newsfeed)

2. Start a Fan Mailing List.
(Ensure all your fans receive your news updates)

Build Your Own Central Hub and Attract Fans To Join You

Building a website is a lot easier then you think.

With sites like WordPress and Tumblr you can simply sign up for an account as you would Facebook and choose a theme that you like. (These sites are a little restricted, so if you have a small budget then I would suggest you host your own website.)

Then you can start adding pages (photos, videos, gigs, contact, store, bio etc…) and start posting news updates and blog posts.

You can easily populate these pages by using Youtube videos, Flickr galleries, Tour-date widgets and so on.

Once you have your site you should set up an account with a mailing list site. The King Kong Club uses Mailchimp, but you might prefer to use one of the music orientated ones like Fanbridge.

Now you can start inviting your friends and fans alike to join your list.
(Don’t add people without them opting in first)

Send an email to your friends with a link to where they can sign up and then do the same on Twitter and Facebook.

You should always have a clipboard and sign up forms at your gigs.

For best results, give fans an incentive to sign up.

How To Make Twitter And Facebook Work For You

Once you have your website up and mailing list up and running your main objective should be to get as many fans, old and new onto your list as possible.

You can do this by using Facebook & Twitter more efficiently and by promoting both your website and mailing list when you play live or on radio.

You will also need to communicate with your fans regularly, with updates and new content.

Don’t email then too frequently, don’t e-mail them unless you have something to say and don’t send them really long e-mails as nobody has the time.

Career For Life

Look after your mailing list and you will have a career for life.

You’re fans will buy more of your music and come to more of your gigs.

They will share more of your content and promote you to others.

Now I pass it to you. What do you think? Are Twitter and Facebook all your band needs?

Oh, and if you like this, please share it!

Click here to Tweet or Click here to post on Facebook.

We are sharing our experience for free and in return we ask that you share it with others.

About the Author: Andrew Wilkinson is the music marketing guy at KKC, and founder of Plastic Hallway. To get more tips on music marketing and social media, sign up to his list here.
Follow him on twitter: @PlasticWilko

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