With 500 million users and easy discoverability on search engines, Facebook and it’s Musician Fan Pages are incredible tools you can use to promote yourself. Consider that Shakira launched her Fan page earlier this year with an exclusive video release to Facebook, garnering her over 2 million fans practically over night, Lady Gaga has surpassed the once seemingly unattainable Obama page for most fans and the King of Pop, Michael Jackson reigns supreme posthumously with 16,801,401 fans. Fan pages have become the new benchmark in the industry. I have walked into meetings with label executives and A&R reps that pull up Facebook Fan Pages even before Myspace Pages for insights to artist reach. So, here are my top 10 tips to making your Fan Page kick ass and take names.
1. Use FBML welcome tab
Landing on a Facebook wall is just boring. It is a wall of information that really doesn’t give people the full picture of your artist or band page. By using the Static FBML application and a little bit of HTML and CSS know-how, you can create a custom Welcome page that uses proven conversion psychology to call visitors to action to fan your page and push over to your website and lead generators like your fan and concert mailing list.
Free FBML template for musicians
Premium FBML Template for Bands and Musicians, $59
BONUS TIP: IF YOU ARE AN UNSIGNED ARTISTS WITH THE GOAL OF BEING SIGNED – USE YOUR FAN PAGE AS AN EPK – FOCUS ON WHO YOU ARE, VIDEOS/AUDIO OF YOURSELF AND HOW TO CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATION.
2. Showcase music, photos and videos
a. Music by Reverb Nation
Play Your Tunes. Musicians and bands can post unlimited songs for streaming or download, add bios and band photos, sell your music and have your friends add your music and share with their friends (viral marketing for you!). This app also includes links to your homepage and you can add up to 30 of your songs (full-length) to your Facebook Musician Page. And the best part: great stats track song-play activity.
b. iLike Music by iLike
One of the premiere music applications for fan pages. One great feature that iLike exclusively provides is the ability to load a large, MySpace-esqe banner. It is somewhat difficult to currently brand yourself visually on facebook (without spending a lot of $), but this is a good start. This app plays music, shows your Twitter feed, has links to purchase songs, etc. In order to create on one these you need an iLike account: http://ilike.com
c. My Band by ReverbNation
There is a lot of overlap between My Band and iLike. The main functions that separate My Band are the merchandise options (fans can buy merch right from this tab), and the newsletter/street team sign up box.
d. Music Player by Facebook
Music Player lets your fans listen to your most recent tracks directly from your Page. Add as many tracks as you want, and update Music Player as you create new music.
BONUS TIP: SPEND TIME TRYING TO GET YOUR MUSIC PLACED WHERE IT WILL GET MASS MARKET EXPOSURE. Get on ourstage or some other platform with direct connections to niche channels like VH-1, MTV, Golf Channel etc. You can easily get some sample placement in these shows (if you are good). One of my fav baby bands, Selby literally got their record deal with Capitol by getting placed in a Golf Channel show and opening for Ryan Cabrerra THEN Uncle Cracker.
3. Use the custom url/username feature .
Once you have over 100 fans, you can apply for a keyword rich custom username by going to www.facebook.com/username. This keyword rich url is public and is searchable by Google so you can build SEO value to your page which pushes some of that value back to your primary website (of course, this assumes you LINKED to your website in your profile!).
4. Incentivize people to fan the page
Getting people to fan a page is important! It means you can send regular messages to fans through the back end of your fan page and notify them of events, concerts, appearances, CD drops and other related band or artist news. The best incentives are those that ask vistors to fan the page to receive coupons, special offers, entry into a fan lottery for tickets, events, or merchandise.
5. Go mobile with Facebook Mobile
Bring Facebook on the go. This app allows you to use Facebook on the go. With it, you can quickly to upload photos and notes from your camera phone straight to Facebook. You can also receive and reply to Facebook messages, pokes and Wall posts using text messages, or use your phone’s mobile browser. Always post from the road! One of the most engaged artists is actually one of the most popular, Lady Gaga – she regularly posts to her page from her phone! Take a cue from the current Queen of Pop! Post regularly, engage with fans and keep people looking for more while touring and recording.
6. Network Smart
NETWORK ON SOCIAL MEDIA SMART. Network up and engage up – if you are trying to get signed, engaging with fans is not the way to do it. Engage with people in the industry. Network with fans but at this stage, you need to network up in the industry to get the ears of the right people. Your fan base is very small right now, so networking with fans now creates a false expectation of engagement which will bite you in the rear later. Automate as much as you can to your accounts, engage with fans 20%, network up 40% and broadcast the other 40%.
7. Publish Tour and Concert dates with Facebook Events
Publish and promote your tour dates, album drops, appearances and much more with Facebook Events.
8. Don’t forget the things most other people forget!
a. Fully fill out your fan page profile – make sure you include your name, a profile picture of you or your logo, contact information, brief bio
b. Update your profile image to use a photo of you or your band, your latest album or tour dates and utilize the full 200 pixel by 600 pixel space you are allotted.
c. Promote your new Facebook Fan Page to your friends by suggesting it to them through Facebook and list it as a link on your personal profile alongside your website and/or blog.
BONUS TIP: DO NOT BELIEVE THE HYPE. DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME TRYING TO PUBLISH YOUR MUSIC TO EVERY FREE DISTRIBUTION NETWORK OUT THERE. LASER FOCUS YOURSELF ON PUSHING YOUR MUSC TO PLACES WHERE PEOPLE WILL HEAR, DISCOVER AND PROMOTE IT LIKE FACEBOOK AND OURSTAGE/ILIKE.
Read also: Music Industry B.S. How to serve 4 million downloads and make minimum wage
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