As an aspiring musician, your number one concern is probably about the way you can advance your career and become better at your job. On the other hand, becoming a good musician is not everything there is to it – being a successful musician is also about knowing how to market yourself.
And that’s when content marketing comes into the picture. The digital scene is where the new generation of musicians gets discovered nowadays which is why you need to promote yourself online – and content marketing is perfect for it. Here’s what you should know.
First and foremost, why choose content marketing over anything else? Content marketing is by far one of the best types of digital marketing to use because it’s fairly easy to get started. It can also be relatively cheap to execute and maintain over long periods of time. Moreover, content marketing is known for being quite effective and efficient if done right.
Another interesting point about content marketing is that it is technically an umbrella term. Content marketing doesn’t refer to only using a single type of content to promote yourself. Instead, you could be using anything from social media (social media marketing) to emails (email marketing) to videos (video marketing) – and it would all be considered content marketing.
While it’s true that content marketing can be very easy to get started in even if you don’t have any prior experience with it, there are still some nuances to this claim. As a musician, you are likely way more knowledgeable in music rather than digital marketing or marketing as a whole. This means that you will still need to learn the basics of marketing, PR, and promotion.
In addition to that, content marketing can be demanding in terms of content production if you are doing it all on your own. This is why many creators who use content marketing to promote themselves often resort to external help (such as the best dissertation editing services for students to proofread and edit content) and outsource part of their content creation.
Now, let’s say you have decided to pursue content marketing on your own (or with some outsourcing). What do you actually do first? Of course, it’s the content marketing strategy. Here are some things to think about:
Who is your target audience? Do you already have some kind of fanbase?
Which platforms do you want to use for promoting yourself online (e.g. social media, YouTube, personal website, SoundCloud, etc.)? Do you already have some kind of online presence? If so, which platforms are you using?
Will you be doing all of the content marketing yourself? Or will you use outsourcing to an extent?
Which types and formats of content do you want to use? Which topics do you want to cover?
How big is your budget? What are your goals (long-term and short-term)? Do you have any prior experience with content marketing?
If you go on the best writing websites and read a little about the way content marketing is done, you will likely get a myriad of different tips and techniques you could use (which can be really confusing). However, there are some general best practices that everyone will recommend:
Always have a strategy from the very beginning. You should know who your audience is and what your plans are. As you get more experienced, you can adjust your target audience, goals, content production, etc.
Create a posting schedule for all your content. This way, you can publish content at the time when it can get the best results (e.g. most likes, views, comments, shares). If you are using multiple platforms, make sure you don’t post content chaotically and instead coordinate it accordingly.
Aim to diversify and never settle for one thing. Use at least two platforms for your content marketing. Create different types of content and experiment with different topics and formats.
Promote both your song and your brand. Instead of only promoting a specific song you recently released, aim to promote yourself as a musician. After all, you are building a particular brand – you want listeners to stay with you and become fans.
Ultimately, content marketing is just one of the many tools you can use to promote yourself and your work as a musician. If you want to succeed in the music industry, you will need to market yourself and actively search for potential listeners which is why you should use content marketing.
It’s fairly simple to get started with this type of digital marketing, so most musicians will find it the perfect fit for them. Use the tips in this article to help you understand how to use content marketing to promote your songs and start growing your brand as a musician!
Author Bio: Frank Hamilton is a blogger and translator from Manchester. He is a professional writing expert in such topics as blogging, digital marketing and self-education. He also loves traveling and speaks Spanish, French, German and English. Meet him on Facebook and Twitter.