How to use Twitter for artists

Twitter could be defined as a microblogging social networking platform where users publicly communicate by posting so-called ‘Tweets’ of up to 280 characters. These tweets enable users to directly talk to their audience and receive immediate responses and feedback from them. In one minute, around 350,000 tweets are tweeted (which equals around 6,000 tweets per second).

This suggests that, unlike other platforms, Twitter is a constant, never-ending stream of information, bringing both advantages and disadvantages to users. While your tweet can more than easily get lost in the huge amount of other tweets and become instantaneously forgotten, it also means that you can actively tweet all the time without bothering or taking up way too much timeline space of other users.

Joining Twitter is free and available to everyone. Just like other social media channels, Twitter offers two types of accounts - the personal (foundational) and professional, used by brands, creators, publishers, and developers for commercial purposes. The ultimate benefit of a professional account is having access to various business tools including Quick promote, Professional Profiles, the Ads Ecosystem, and, most importantly, Twitter shopping. It’s important to know that the analytics tool, Twitter Analytics, is available to both personal and professional accounts!

In case you’d like to, for example, sell your music and merch through Twitter and so convert your existing personal account into a professional one, there are particular requirements you need to meet, such as:

• To have a complete profile with an account name, a profile picture, and a bio

• To have a clear and authentic identity on your profile that does not feature someone else’s identity, brand, or organization

• To not have a history of continuously violating the Twitter User Agreement

Filling your profile, and thus creating your brand is an important first step. Make sure that your profile is as complete as possible and represents your artistic identity and gives your followers, both current and potential ones, a clear vision about who you are and what you do. When choosing your account name and profile and cover pictures, try to remain consistent with your presence on other platforms. It will make it easier for your audience to discover and recognize you.

Now that you know more about how Twitter works and what makes it stand out from other social media channels, we can move to how to effectively use the platform as a musician. We’ve gathered some useful tips and practices to follow to nail your music promotion on Twitter!

Just like you can’t be everywhere, you also can’t target everyone - that applies not only to Twitter but to other social media platforms, too. It’s therefore crucial to first know whom, as an audience, you attract on Twitter, depending on the content you produce. Twitter Analytics can help you gain more insights into your viewers and their demographics - who they are, where they’re located, what they like to do, etc.

Bear also in mind that specific music genres may be more appropriate for Twitter than others just because their fans and followers are more present and represented on the platform. If you have a feeling that your target audience and the people that come to your show are not really present on Twitter and so your music promotion seems unsuccessful (you can also use analytics to measure your performance), try to reconsider whether or not to continue using the platform. You can then focus more on platforms that seem to work better with your audience and the content you create.

As stated above, Twitter breathes and runs on the dissemination of information and its users’ thoughts and statements. It’s therefore a great space to express one’s opinion and personal views. However, there are topics that are more controversial than others, such as politics, public health, or religion, and should rather be avoided in professional matters - especially in the case of bands consisting of more members resulting in more, perhaps different, opinions.

If there are topics that you’re passionate about but may not align with the band's members' opinions, views, and values, we would recommend that you have a separate, ‘personal’ account. There you can freely express yourself and interact with other people that are passionate about the topics that you are interested in.

With this being said, it doesn’t mean that you should not stand up for your values and personality and express yourself on things that matter to you. It’s important to maintain a healthy balance between being professional and staying true to yourself. Having a separate account will not only help you achieve that but will also highlight your and your band’s authenticity and genuineness.

Speaking of interaction, proactive communication and engagement with other users, your followers but also musicians, bands, and other personalities from your field, is key. Try to respond to your fans’ messages, retweet their tweets, and share other things they may find interesting. The way that you interact will let you set a general tone and speed of communication with your fans and so help them support you in the way you want them to.

Interacting with other members within your specialty and profession may also help you gain more followers. By retweeting their content, you may catch the attention of their fans and thus attract new fans yourself! By the way, fans love when musicians respond to each other’s messages and get into conversations!

The ultimate aim of your interaction on Twitter is to make yourself approachable and accessible for connecting with others. Twitter may be considered a huge community and space open to each and every member. Being active and, mostly, proactive on the platform may eventually lead to more messages, inquiries, and opportunities that you may not want to miss!

The way you interact is closely related to the content you create and produce. Although Twitter may not seem so creativity-inducing, the tweets are rather short, and there are not that many fun features (as in comparison to Instagram or Facebook), there are actually more than enough content ideas that you can utilize.

Sharing your story is a great way for your fans to learn details about your journey as a musician and connect to you on a more personal level. You can then make your bond even stronger by hosting Q&As sessions and so sharing more about yourself, your music, and future projects. Share photos and videos commemorating your achievements and highlighting important moments, such as an album release, new merch, or an upcoming tour. You can also entertain your fans with funny and awkward stories or announce an exciting collaboration with a fellow musician.

The goal here is to have fun with the content you create while staying authentic! Don’t be afraid to show your human side and your emotions. Your fans will love it!

Another thing making Twitter different from other platforms is that you don’t have to work hard to find the right hashtags to use and trends to follow - the platform will list them for you! These trends are primarily determined by the Twitter algorithm, and by default, accommodated to you based on the accounts you follow, your interests, and your location.

By adjusting your Trends settings, you can select particular trends and topics that may be relevant to you, the content you create, and the music you produce. It also increases your chance of interacting with your target audience and may help you boost your engagement and gain new followers.

It’s only natural that musicians that you love and admire are a great source of influence, not only on Twitter but on other social media channels, too. You can therefore check out and analyze what content your favorite singers, bands and producers create, get inspired, and perhaps follow their example!

Musicians creating music of a similar genre may also give you additional incentives on the content you can produce and so engage more with your target audience.