by Francesca | Nov 16, 2023 | Music Industry, Music Marketing, Social Media
So your fans are streaming your music and jamming away… Great! But what if you want more? Super fans will support you through thick and thin. Fostering deeper connections with your audience is a smart way to create a stronger fan base you can lean on throughout your career. Whether it be with a paid newsletter, exclusive merch, or a VIP subscription service, here’s how to convert casual fans into paying subscribers.
How to Convert Fans Into Paying Subscribers
Offer Something Worth Paying for
You have to think about what other artists in your genre are offering. For example, lots of artists offer early access to a new song, but if the song is going live to the public a couple weeks later, it’s not necessarily worth paying for in advance. Offer something uniquely exclusive, because everyone likes to feel special.
For example, you could start by simply mentioning your new subscription in an Instagram story. Mention an exclusive community that gets special treatment, for example: “… And we did a private concert for five of our fans, it was amazing… We even played them one of our unreleased songs.” Or offer other things like:
- Online concerts
- VIP virtual hangs
- Features on social media (Instagram Live, Twitter shoutouts, etc.)
- Access to unreleased music
- Behind the scenes content
- Autographed merch
Exclusive shit sells. Get creative with it! Think about things you’d want from your favorite artist and go from there.
Run Targeted Ads
Great advertising is a magical thing. Running targeted ads towards your current fanbase is a great way to reel in those who are already the most interested in your work.
Loyalty goes a long way. Give back.
Being a part of a community is a feeling like no other. Feeling connected and heard by your favorite artist is worth a subscription any day. When you get a new subscriber, do something special for them to show you care. Give back by promoting your subscribers on socials. Anything to create a personalized and thoughtful experience will do.
- You could try something on social media like, #followbackfridays, where you follow back everyone who subscribes to your service that day. (That doesn’t mean tagging everyone in one post, by the way. There’s nothing personal about that.)
- Record personalized thank you videos for subscribers via Twitter or Instagram.
- Invite a couple fans to join an Instagram Live with you.
It’s important to show your subscribers how thankful you are for their patronage and actually put in the work. Because without them, where would you be?
Have a Social Media Strategy
Promoting your new service on socials is the best way to stay on top of everyone’s minds. Just don’t overdo it. Don’t harass your followers with a million posts a day begging for their interest. Keep it casual but consistent. Be engaging.
Having a great CTA works wonders, but you don’t want to overwhelm your audience. When in doubt, a simple “here’s what I’m doing, here’s why it’s awesome, and here’s why you’ll dig it” should do the trick..
Just be consistent, offer something they can’t wait to get their hands on, and always be yourself. Your fans will see your spark and naturally want a part of it. You got this.
by Francesca | Nov 16, 2023 | Music Industry, Music Marketing
This year, holiday marketing has been starting earlier than ever. If you’re looking to sharpen your holiday marketing skills on Instagram, this post will give you everything you need to know to make the most of your efforts. No problem. From tips and tricks to help you expand your reach to making more sales this holiday season, here’s what we know…
7 Tips For Holiday Marketing On Instagram
Run a Seasonal Giveaway
Instagram accounts that do contests or giveaways grow 70% faster than those that don’t. Not only that, giveaways entice both current followers and potential new ones to engage. This increased engagement signals to Instagram’s algorithm that it should feature you more regularly in your audience’s feed.
What better way to engage your audience for the holidays than with a giveaway! Consider giving away things like:
- Limited edition merch
- Early download access to your new EP
- Signed vinyl
- A holiday care package (merch, vinyl, CD’s, a holiday card, candy, etc., all in one)
The holidays are about giving back and showing you care. Let your marketing reflect that, too.
Shoppable Instagram Posts
50% of US consumers do their holiday shopping at the last minute. Want to drive sales to your site? Make shopping for those last minute holiday gifts as easy as possible with Shoppable Instagram posts. This feature lets you to tag your products in your posts and link them to your website for your fans to purchase with ease.
(To be approved for Instagram Shopping, you’ll need to meet these requirements. Click here to learn how.)
Collaborate with Similar Artists
You’re not the only one looking to generate leads on Instagram during the holiday season. What better way to combine your efforts and get twice the reach by collaborating with another artist?
Just like brands partner with influencers to tap into their audiences, you can do the same.
Do you have connections with an artist who’s got a similar fanbase to yours? — Go on Instagram Live together or do your own respective posts within your feeds to promote each others merch, that limited edition vinyl that would make a perfect gift, a new single that just dropped, etc.. This extends both your views’ into both audiences.
Everybody wins! 🙏
Instagram Ads
Instagram ads are a secret weapon for gaining potential customers with ease. Instagram targets the exact audiences with the most potential for engagement, helping you gain exposure in all the right places.
Affiliate Marketing
The holidays are a great time for people to buy tickets to shows for their loved ones. A great way for you to use this to your advantage is to sign up for affiliate programs. With these, you can share their affiliate links in your Instagram posts or stories to promote tickets to you or your fellow musician friends’ shows. When your followers make a purchase through your link, you earn a commission.
For example, brands like StubHub, Vivid Seats and Ticketmaster all have pretty good affiliate programs. So whether your fans are buying tickets to your shows or other artists’, as long as they use your code, you get a cut. Doesn’t get much easier than that.
Run Exclusive Offers
I mean… who doesn’t like exclusive stuff? The holiday season means everyone is looking for the perfect, unique gift for that special music lover in their lives. What’s better than some limited edition merch from their favorite artist?
Consider offering limited time discounts on select products or drop a limited run of holiday themed merch. Get into the holiday spirit and offer something special to your audience that they just can’t pass up.
Engage with Holiday User Generated Content
You’re not the only one posting your holiday joy on Instagram. Tons of other artists (and fans) are doing their part and adding to the plethora of festive content coming out at this time of the year. Encourage your community to interact with one another by posting Instagram Stories asking about their favorite holiday songs, artists, snacks, activities, or whatever else comes to mind.
You can repost this content onto your own page and encourage a conversation. Don’t forget to get everyone to use a common hashtag so we can all get in on the action. This is community at it’s finest!
In Conclusion…
The holiday season brings in more sales than any other time of the year. With these tips and tricks, you’re on the right track to perfecting your marketing game on Instagram in no time.
Happy Holidays!
🎁✨
by Francesca | Nov 2, 2023 | Music Industry, Music Production
If you’re a singer, instrumentalist or songwriter, learning how to produce your own music can be an absolute game changer for your artist journey! In this post, Xylo Aria, founder of the online music production learning platform, Music Production for Women (MPW), breaks it down and gives you everything you need to know…
How To Get Into Music Production As A Beginner
I started as a singer songwriter who was always reliant on other producers to make music and I remember feeling quite frustrated as my ideas often got lost in translation. Learning to produce opened up a whole new world of possibilities that allowed me to bring my musical vision to life exactly as I heard it. To help you out on this journey, here’s everything you need to know about taking your first steps into the world of music production.
First, start with what you have.
It can be very tempting to go to a music store, ask for recommendations, and spend lots of money on new gear. Unfortunately, I made this mistake starting out, and 10 years later sold a few things that I ended up never using! There are very few things that you actually need to produce music. These include a laptop, headphones and some sort of production software.
Start with the laptop that you have if it’s powerful enough to produce. You can get a decent quality pair of headphones for around $100, and oftentimes production software companies will offer free trials of their software for you to get started with. If you want to build from there, you can add an audio interface and microphone to record audio and then a pair of studio monitors to listen back on something other than your headphones.
Find a teacher.
This is a point that I wish I realized the importance of earlier! Many people decide to learn on their own from YouTube, and although this can be an accessible place to start, it can easily take five times as long to learn. In addition, not knowing what you don’t know makes it difficult to know what to search for. Getting some lessons or finding a short course, even if it’s just to learn the fundamentals, can drastically cut down the learning curve.
📚 Pro Tip: MPW runs a free Intro to Music Production class you can register for which is an excellent place to start for someone taking their first steps.
Allow yourself to make bad music.
I often see students who are very new to production feel discouraged, because they listen to pop music on the radio and feel their creations don’t sound as good. This is like comparing a toddler taking their first steps to Usain Bolt in a 100 meter sprint. They are two completely incomparable things!
So as you’re learning, set your main goal to enjoy the process rather than to create high quality music. Understand that what you make when you start will likely not sound good, and that’s all part of the process. As you spend more time with it, you will get better!
Be consistent in your learning.
Setting aside an hour twice a week is much better than setting aside a whole day once a month. Producing music involves muscle memory and understanding your tools. Building consistency in your learning will slowly bring you the familiarity you need with the software over time.
Find a community.
Learning to produce on your own can be a lonely journey, especially as a bedroom producer. When the going gets tough, doing it all on your own might even cause you to give up. Finding a community that understands what you’re going through can be a really useful resource. There are great producer communities around the world, for example Ableton has various User Groups in different parts of the world that can be a good place to start. There are otherwise also many other communities online that meet regularly who you can connect with.
In Conclusion…
Starting your production journey is the hardest part, so just take that first step! Whether that’s downloading a free trial of a software or enrolling into a free class to start. I completely understand the frustration of not knowing how things works and wanting to give up, but as you chip away at it one session at a time, you will see your skills develop and evolve. When you get to the point where you’ve created something you love and can pump it up in your car during a summer’s day drive, trust me… it will all be worth it.
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👀 Want to learn even more?
Claim your FREE music production mini mentoring session with Xylo here. In addition, you can join her mailing list with additional resources right here.
Good luck!
