4 Inexpensive Ideas to Show Your Fans How Much You Care
Fan engagement is key for indie artists who want to leverage the power of social media and streaming apps to make it big. These quick tips will help you show (and get) some fan love this year.
While many, many artists are in the game because of their love for music, being an entertainer can be a competitive sport.
With platforms like Soundcloud and YouTube overflowing with new artists constantly, and considering the minute-by-minute attention span of modern pop cultures lovers — the only way for new artists to truly stand out is through their fan base.
Take indie rapper Princess Nokia for example. She backs up her tough girl vibe with her heart of gold persona when defending her fans from social media (& real-life) bullying.
Grammy nominated Auckland born singer, Lorde also built her fanbase by sharing relatable content of her doing “young adults who’ve suddenly landed the job of her dream” things.
Despite what some would say, most artists and musicians would love to get closer to and expand their fan base, but many aren’t sure how to social media to do it. While flashy product giveaways and fan “surprises” are a dime a dozen, try these four tips to boost your fanbase without blowing your tour budget.
1. Facetime a super fan
It’s worked for Taylor Swift. But seriously, your fans would love a chance to talk to you one on one, and while we’re working on a better way for you to do that, try video messaging your loudest and proudest fans to find out how your music has impacted them.
You can thank them for listening and sharing. Or just shoot the breeze and talk about your songwriting process. Either way, giving fans direct sight lines into your world every now and then is a good thing as long you feel comfortable with it.
2. Give back in small, but meaningful ways
Most recently, Drake walked into a grocery store and announced to all the shoppers that their groceries would be free, encouraging them to stock up.
While @ChampagnePapi is obviously rolling in enough dough to foot the bill, the gesture of making someone’s grocery trip or weekend errands slightly more bearable is something that can be applied even if you’re still trying to make it.
Whether you show up to sing at a local nursing home, or offer to run errands for bedridden fans, show them their adorations means something valuable to you is a great way to win over more hearts and ears.
3. Host Surprise Concerts via Live Stream
Are fans bummed because they couldn’t get tickets to your sold out show? Are you working on your latest project and not quite ready to tour yet?
You know that your fans love to see you on stage, up close and personal. But that doesn’t mean you can’t cheat a little bit if you’re not quite concert-ready.
All that said, artists can host their own Tiny Desk concert right from their basement with the help of a ring light, passable acoustics, and Instagram Live. Whether you tease the event for weeks, or make fans wait until they see their timelines on fire — impromptu performances can be viral gold.
4. Start a Group Chat for Your Fans to Message Your SuperFans
Group messaging is either the best or worst thing ever, depending on which college student you ask at the time.
For brands (and your band is your brand) the ability to push messages to a network of consumers is a big win for customer communications. And since artists are moving away from mailing lists and fan clubs, why not use the power of group messaging to share tour updates, performance times, setlists or new music with your most loyal fans or followers?
Most apps will let you add users via email or phone number, but by requesting a hashtag with willu, musicians can instantly add and message fans via their own preferred hashtags.
Visit our website to see other ways to a supercharged hashtag can help grow your fanbase.
