Social Media: What to Publish Between Campaigns?

If you’re a band or a solo artist, posting on social media is a necessity which soon becomes second nature. In the Age of the Internet interaction with your fans should be sincere and uninterrupted. But what about a social media strategy when, for whatever reason, a musician has nothing to promote? The life of an artist is punctuated by cycles - it is not rare to alternate between periods of overactivity and underactivity, at least from the perspective of the average fan.

So, how should you react on social media if you need to take a break, whether it be long or short; want to promote your musical career; after a tour; or during a PR campaign around a release? Whether you are taking a well-deserved break or preparing the next big step in your career, you need to put serious thought into the question of the content strategy to adopt on social media during this period.

In this article I outline three different solutions to help you consider this question and to enable you to face this period in your career with confidence, even if you have nothing new and exciting to rally and mobilise your fan community.

Solution No.1: Create new content around your brand

Even if you are currently between promo campaigns, there is nothing to stop you from creating your own new content to bring your online presence to life. You don’t need a PR agency, publicist or impressive marketing budget to connect with your fans or share content that will interest them and smooth the transition between the different cycles of your career.

• Record a cover and upload it to Youtube,
• Share some anecdotes about your last release answer fans’ questions,
• Let your fanbase have their say, use Facebook Live to stream an online concert,
• Share a playlist of your musical influences.

The possibilities are endless.

The trick is to place no limits on your creativity and connect with your fanbase in a way that may differ from your traditional promotional methods. This is not about selling anything. You are just trying to keep your fanbase’s attention until your next release. This is, therefore, the perfect opportunity to be authentic and get closer to your fans.

Solution No.2: Recycle your content

What if you can’t or don’t want to create more original content? No worries, if this is the case you just need to go into “best of” mode.Here the aim is to recycle content released during your last promo campaign, not with the aim of squeezing more profits out of your last marketing efforts but simply to prolong the lifespan of the cycle. In this way you will have material to share before getting into “teaser” mode for your next release.

Of course, on paper, the lack of new material means that this isn’t the most exciting type of content to share. But if your promo campaign was effective, you can be sure that your fans will still be as receptive and enthusiastic when you share content linked to your previous releases again: videos, interviews, lyrics, photos, live material, milestones reached, etc.

In fact, in the eyes of a fan, choosing this solution will give your last release more significance than if you moved on too quickly to another PR campaign. Each launch deserves to be marketed effectively for the duration, so if you don’t know what to share between releases, don’t rush through to the next stage before revisiting the best moments of the current campaign with your fanbase.

Solution No.3: Be transparent

Are you taking a break and planning on not posting more on social media because you need to work on your next album? Or because you are off to the other side of the world for a holiday? Or maybe because you don’t have any choice? Don’t worry, your fans will understand. But you will have to be transparent and not be afraid to tell them the reason for your inactivity on social media.

This solution if by far the best option if you don’t want to create original content or recycle existing material. All you need to do is post a few words which explain your future inactivity on social media and which could act as a teaser for your return, generating impatience amongst your superfans.

However, although this is the easiest solution to implement, I don’t recommend it for emerging or developing musicians as they would risk losing too quickly the little visibility they managed to generate during their last promotion campaign. If you are just starting out, it is vital to maintain and fuel your momentum, so you should lean towards solutions number 1 and 2 instead.

Conclusion

If there is just one thing that you should take from this article, it is that apparent inactivity in your musical career is not fatal. It is up to you to make best use of social media to strengthen your connection with your fanbase, end your previous campaign in a suitable way and lay strong foundations for your next one.

With that in mind, the decision that you take is actually not that important, as long as you keep listening to your fanbase and looking after your fans. If you do this, they will stay loyal to your career even between releases when you don’t have anything new and exciting to offer them.

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