INTRO & PERSPECTIVE

I can almost bet money that you’ve heard (or even may even be guilty of) this classic line before.

“Wtf, Facebook is dumb why are only 10% of my likes on my Facebook page seeing my posts and hardly anyone is clicking them!? Facebook doesn’t care about us musicians the platform is broken”

I understand where you’re coming from but also understand this. Why should Facebook show 100% of your posts to 100% of your likes/fans after all it is a free platform and you’re not paying a monthly subscription to be on the site. However I do feel the frustration of the situation as you’ve built up your Facebook page over time and now it seems like all that hard work has gone nowhere if those fans don’t see your updates.

The reason behind this is that Facebook is a money making machine. Whenever you feel like Facebook is doing you dirty just think back to these 2 points to remind yourself how Facebook works as a whole.

• 1 – Facebook want’s to make money. They get money by displaying ads on your timeline from advertisers
• 2 – They wan’t to keep you and their users on Facebook for as long as possible, so they can show more ads to you and therefore make more money.

They help to keep you on the site by showing you posts that you engage with and that keep you on the site, whether that be status updates from your close friends, funny videos, memes, shocking news etc etc. 

Hence why your timeline is filled with all these things and every 5th post is an ad. Anything else that you hardly have any interaction with they wont show that on your timeline. (which sadly is a lot of artist pages)

So when you post your Soundcloud or Youtube links on Facebook, they will only show this post to a very very small percentage of your fan base because Point Number 2 – You’re sending people away from their site and they cant show anymore ads to the people your sending to Soundcloud….

And if you post a photo or status update without a link, it will still only show this post to a select % of your fans because they don’t want to flood everyones timelines (imagine if you started to see every single post that got shown from all the pages you like, your timeline would be never ending) and this links back to Point Number 1 – They want to make money by getting you to pay for ads!

Now this just seems sad, why bother with a platform that doesn’t really cater to the little guy? Just remember 2 BILLION PEOPLE, you have the potential to make big waves on Facebook! So what can you do to get your message/music out there?

VIDEOS, TEASERS & VIrality

So let’s kick into things. If you want to get your content across to the most amount of your fans possible you are going to have to create some Facebook friendly posts that will keep people on the Facebook and is engaging.

The best way to achieve this is by posting in video form. From previous experience, posting videos and photos (without adding links) will get the most reach. So as an artist, you could create videos teasing your upcoming tracks, full music videos, in the studio videos, live show clips, a dj mix etc, have a think about it. And there is one added bonus about Facebook that could help your get your music out there and that is the power of the ‘viral video!’

Imagine if you posted a funny video with your track in it and then that video gets shared and then shared some more and then people are tagging their friends in the comments, next thing you know you’re sitting on 1 million views and that just happened within a few days (doing that on youtube is 10x harder!) Study other peoples viral videos to work out the key components of a video that ‘takes off’ and see how you can incorporate your music or brand into this.

Or if you know your strength isn’t making videos, team up with some one who has got the knack for video and collaborate with them, provide your music and work as a team.

CREATE ADS?

Have you considered paying for a chance to reach more people on Facebook and taking advantage of their ad system? And I don’t mean ‘promoting a post’ I mean actually creating a Facebook ad (this ad could be your music video that links back to your Bandcamp or a site like iTunes/Spotify.) 

The ability to be able to target your music directly towards people who are interested in similar genres/styles has never been easier and more precise and whats more it’s completely in your hands.

The difference in reach between paid posts versus organic (normal) posts are quite dramatic

Say if your music kinda sounds like Skrillex, then you could target your music to people who like Skrillex, Diplo, Major Lazer, RL Grime etc etc. There are tonnes and tonnes of resources out there to help you create the best Facebook ad for the message you’re trying to put out whether it be ‘check out my new track’ or ‘new gig at Wembley Arena, get your tickets here and don’t miss out’

PS. Don’t post links such as a Soundcloud link or Spotify link as your main ad. Our best advice would be create a video or image for you ad that has the link built into the ‘Learn More’ button or description. Strait up links just aren’t that appealing as an ad. It’s better to engage the audience with something visually and then getting them to click the link…

POSTING CONTENT

We covered video, but we didn’t really dive into the others. Heres some ideas.

• Photos – latest studio pics, album art, memes, aspiring quotes, collaborations, gigs
• Status updates – what you’re working on, where you’re playing, shoutouts

Consistent content is key, it lets Facebook know that your active and your page is relevant! Once a day or once every two days is ideal!

I know you want to post links back to your Soundcloud and Youtube, but people want to stay on Facebook (and Facebook wants people to stay on Facebook ‘POINT 2‘) Facebook frowns upon anything that directs them away from their website so naturally that post’s with the Soundcloud link’s reach will be quite low.

But when it comes that time to share a link on Facebook, experiment around with just posting the link in the status bar, posting a captivating photo and placing the link in the description or just letting people know the link you want them to click is in the comment section, see which gets the most reach.

BE SOCIAL

After all it is called social media for a reason. Get out there, leave your mark, comment on other peoples posts, reply to your comments and messages, be grateful to your fans if they take the time out of their lives to write on your posts then you can take the time out of your life to respond to them and make a connection!

Learn to pounce at every opportunity,

Live Feedback Streams? Submit your music, stick around and make some producer friends and connections.

People looking for music in their DJ sets? Send your tunes over.

People looking for collabs? Get involved!